Phantom Thief Crescent
by HaseoAsakura
Summary: The Phantom Thief Crescent. The thief that starred in her father's police stories. A name Officer Pyrrha Nikos knows too well. Will Pyrrha be able to take down a criminal famous for evading capture? Maybe not alone, but that's why Officers Xiao Long and Rose are on the case! (Modern AU) (First Fic)
1. A Time Ago

It was a hard life for a police officer. Alexander Nikos was described as the perfect cop; a perfect record, always willing to work, every case that he was involved with ended with in the perp behind bars or helping them bust bigger fish. There was only one blemish in his perfect record, and even though he didn't care about the record, he cared about the criminal that was still free. Spanning the decades Nikos spent on the force, he could never crack that one mystery: The Phantom Thief.

A man that made a mockery of the Vale Police Force everytime he announced his next heist. His modus operandi was always the same, he would send a signed letter with the name of a jewel he would steal and even the exact time of said theft. He always kept his word, everytime he would appear in his bright white tuxedo, pants, shoes and even a white top hat. If he didn't know any better, one could compare the suit to that of a magician.

After the first few times, this thief kept the same style of crime, like he was giving them every chance to see him coming, from his mannerisms to all the stunts he would partake in needlessly.

All of it seemed to scream 'NOTICE ME!" Even with so much time to prepare for their guest, the VPD would always be lacking in one department or another.

Somehow that thief would slip through his iron grip and flash his cocky smile while he escaped. Even in his older age, he could still remember the time he thought he could close that last file.

Rushing through the Emerald Building's top floors, Alexander Nikos could see the smile on the thief's face. No expense was spared this time, no matter what happened, the Phantom Thief had finally met his match. Nikos had clipped his wings with helicopters, shutting down any air escape and with their spotlights, removed any chances of him slipping into the roof's shadows. Each one of the entrances had personally assigned officers to guard the doors, even ensuring that those officers were in plain view of the camera in case one of them was picked off. All of the officers had secret passwords that ensured the thief couldn't just switch places with one of them. Even the outside of the building had other snipers ready to fire tranquilizer darts on sight. Last but not least, his target the "Champion's Heart" was safely guarded by both laser systems and his own men.

The gold circlet had a special addition that would trigger any metal detectors in case anyone tried to sneak it out. A separate addition would trigger a silent alarm if anyone dared move it from the case which housed it. Apart from the additions, the circlet was encrusted with what seemed like emerald diamonds. Each diamond came from the Earth itself, and when placed under the gaze of the sun, they would shine green. All of them double checked and ensured so even the priceless diamonds couldn't be smuggled. All he had to do was catch up to the trapped animal.

Even with all the tables turned on him, the thief still tried to cause a slip up, "All this for me Nikos?! You really shouldn't have! I much prefer keeping our dates discrete!" Nikos laughed at his comments, "If your idea of discrete is shouting from the rooftops where you're going to be then you shouldn't ask for privacy! Although I can be persuaded to make your next room as private as you want! Only in death can you escape the long arm of justice!"

His eyes kept on the running thief, his white cape flapping behind him as he ran. Each step would bring him closer to where he could almost reach the cape. It was only a sudden turn into the staircase that kept him out of reach. Before Nikos could react, his opponent jumped into the open space the rectangular staircase had, allowing him a freefall. Nikos could only smile as his drop was stopped by one of the nets his men had placed every three floors to prevent this kind of escape.

The police captain jumped still chasing his prey with a predatory grin, '_That's right Crescent, I managed to take all our history and make this a fool-proof prison for you. No one gets out of here without my knowledge. Today is the day I'll slap those cuffs on you!'_

Crescent, the thief, could only fumble around as he noticed the steel locking gates that covered the outside of the glass. Even crashing his entire body into the glass would only have him bounce back onto the floor as the iron cradle would easily prevent any jump. As the ideas started to form, each precaution seemed to be taken. HIs normal flight would be stopped by the helicopters and his ability to "shapeshift" was hurt as each one of the police was always with someone else, leaving no stragglers behind. His movements were restricted by the level of police presence on every floor and smoke bombs could only work if he could use the shadows, which the kind officers thought to leave none behind. He was running out of options quickly and even if he managed to escape Nikos, his men were everywhere.

Panting as his stamina was slowly declining, he still needed to find a way to escape with the target. The only way he could leave here was with a distraction big enough to overwhelm all the senses and maybe even disturb the police force itself. If only a dead man could escape him, then so be it.

Nikos followed him to the best of his abilities, knowing Crescent had no other way out. Other officers would call out when one of them saw the criminal. Following their call out, he started to make his way through the Emerald Building Museum. It wasn't very long before he came face to face with him once more.

He decided to stay in the ballroom of the upper floors, the area was essentially a giant box, he had no idea what was running through his head, but he didn't care. This was his time, 10 out of his 15 years in the force, dedicated to him, and finally his efforts would blossom.

He could be surrounded by blue, but that damned smirk on his lips wouldn't die. He wore it proudly, casually twirling the circlet in his hands. His feet together, his back as straight as he could, but somewhat making it seem casual.

With his smirk still plastered across his face, he spoke "Officer Nikos! Glad to see you can still keep up! While I am glad we can have these chats, I must admit I grow bored. Not of you! Never of you of course, but this cat and mouse game we play must come to close someday. Maybe one day we can pick this game up another time in the future?"

Nikos scoffed at his words, "There won't be a future for you! I'll put you behind bars tonight!" Crescent could only laugh "I'll leave the Champions Heart here for you, but I will come back for it. What good are cops when there is no crime? All you need to do is come and get it."

Nikos raised his taser gun up to the thief who seemed to put the circlet down and back away from it. While he reached out for the artifact, he moved his eyes away from the thief for a single moment in order to properly grab the Heart.

No attacks or no movement was detected, everything seemed like everything was going well until his radio practically shouted at him, "Crescent is on the move! I see him heading to the roof using the stairs!"

HIs eyes shot upward, finding the thief smile as he now held a police radio in his hands. He didn't notice that his fingers were touching the cold floor. It took a moment of realization before he connected the pieces together and lunged at him, attempting to knock him down, to bring him into his grasp hoping that he was wrong in his thoughts. For all the effort that his tackle used, he was rewarded by passing through Crescent as his holographic smirk came once more. "I never said where here was. You know what they say though right? Pride comes before the fall."

With energy that he didn't know he even had anymore he pushed himself up the stairs. His destination was the roof of the building, as his feet carried him upwards, he noticed some of the younger officers waiting for the elevators. He didn't tell anyone in fear that Crescent would somehow know, but the elevators were all locked on the first floor to make sure that no one was able to use them. Some of his men followed him into the stairs and as they stormed the roof they could hear the helicopters getting closer to the building, their lights no longer illuminating the rooftop, only one man.

His nerves seemed to settle themselves as he witnessed the thief's shocked expression. His usual escape plan of jumping off the building was shot. It only took a few seconds before his deployed cape/paraglider dragged him towards the end of the roof as the helicopters winds made an aerial escape impossible.

He quickly disengaged his paraglider, reverting it back to a cape. "Sir! The helicopters are preventing the snipers from taking their shot! There's too much wind!"

Nikos shook his head, "He's trapped and cornered, it's over for him." With a large squad of 10 men by his side, all of them pointed their guns at him. Crescent's reckoning was finally at hand, and Nikos could only smile as a newscopter flew past them, recording his triumph.

Crescent looked away, his face going from his cocky smile into one of realizations and slowly falling. He knew he was done, his idea of the roof escape was his most obvious to Nikos, which meant he would use it, probably thinking that no one would expect an aerial escape due to how often it was used. Crescent tossed the Champion's Heart back to him and raised his hands, revealing them empty.

"Looks like the game is over huh? It's such a shame, isn't it Officer Nikos?"

Before anyone could move, a single gunshot was heard as clear as day. As the sound rang in their ears, Crescent's eyes widened as he looked down, his white as snow suit was slowly being ruined by red. He covered his suit stain with his hand seemingly in a trance.

Without waiting for a response from the officers, all of them still in shock, he fell back. Gravity taking a hold of him, dragging from from the roof of the 20-story building. The helicopters kept all their lights on Crescent's white, tracing his descent. It was only the concrete of the city that stopped the descent. The police quickly scattered from the roof trying to reach the floor. The snipers packed and left their stations, seeing how their job was done and Officer Nikos and his team made their way down.

'_Crescent is dead?'_

It was the only thought that seemed to plague his mind, the shock of the event so strong that only the shaking of his Sergeant Summer Rose snapped him out of it. "You need to see this sir."

Already surrounded by police tape and several officers were starting to move people away from the "crash site", Nikos could see the white that his rival always wore, the suit part of it was more red than white by this point.

Nikos noticed his chest start to fall in, taking the last breath he would ever take. Nikos took this time to take off his hat only to notice that his chest kept falling in, more than should be possible. His chest wasn't falling, it was deflating!

Without a word, he tried to swat away the hat from his head, only to find it stuck on his head, and much heavier than anyone should have expected. When he did uncover Crescent's face, the only face he saw staring back was one made with a marker and its' tongue sticking out at him.

The night was soon filled with the roar of Nikos, "CREEEEESCENT!"

The man was brought back to his own time as he sighed heavily. He may not have been able to stop him, but he knew he had the best of the best alongside him now. His eyes stopped at his favorite photograph.

Three women were smiling back at him, all of them in police uniforms, each one of them half hugging each other, sporting peace signs with their hands. The first was a tall, blonde woman whose hair could be described as a waterfall of gold and her smile infectious to the squad. The second, his own daughter, with her hair as vibrant red as his, her long hair tied into a ponytail, and the girl in the middle of the picture was a new addition. Her short black hair ended with red tips and her smile was the biggest he had ever seen. She reminded him of her mother, now Captain Rose. The read the captions they had handwritten on the bottom.

"OFFICER ROSE JOINS OUR RANKS!"


	2. Setting the Stage

**A/N: Welcome back! I hope you enjoy the story! Feel free to leave any comments you may have. **

Night 1: Setting the Stage

It was a warm autumn day as Pyrrha and Yang managed to patrol the city. Even though Vale was as big a city as you can get, sometimes the giant of a city wasn't busy. Glancing out the window at times, she could hear the anxiousness that was Yang next to her.

"I'm bored Pyrrha! All we do is patrol, then stop some stupid goon!"

Pyrrha nodded along, "Well, you know-"

Yang immediately cut her off, "I did not become a cop to put away stupid criminals! I joined to put away those juggernaut cases! You know, a series of robberies? Maybe a terrorist organization? A plot to destroy the city of Vale maybe?"

Pyrrha rolled her eyes as Yang went off on her rant, only stopping to take a breath. When Yang finally talked herself down, she moved to talk, "It's not that bad Yang, we do good for the community!"

Yang focused on her, her eyes narrowing, "Really? The last thing we did was stop a car robbery."

Pyrrha remembered that event, seeing Yang's point but still trying to spin it in a better light, "See? Helping!" Yang's eyes grew bored, "In the middle of the day, in an empty parking lot… I thought criminals were supposed to be smart about crime, yet all we get is two-bit criminals that think they're the next big thing."

Pyrrha could only nod, knowing exactly what she meant. When her father told her stories of his field days, they were always intense stories where something always hung in the balance. Thrilling moments of chasing down criminals and protecting the people of Vale from whatever evil people could become. She hoped her career would take off in the same way, but like always it seemed life had other plans. So she had to sit in a car or an office and wait for something, anything to happen. Today's highlight so far had been meeting up with a friend of Yang's from high school.

Leaving Yang to talk with her friend Velvet, the redhead could only sigh as she would occasionally listen to their radios, in case anything was happening nearby. She watched as people would walk by and started to take in the sounds of the city. The only distraction was a well built blonde that seemed to jog on the sidewalk across from them. While the city sounds were soothing to her, she could hear Yang complain about the lack of criminals to stop. Even though Pyrrha would never mention it herself, she felt much like Yang did.

A short drive back to the station led them to see a young girl in her officer uniform, missing her hat, although wearing a very vibrant and distinct red scarf, and her red tipped jet black hair clued the two to who was coming their way. With a cheeky smile and a slight wave of her hand, Ruby met silver eyes with emeralds as she spoke, "Chief Nikos wants to have a word with us! He says it's important! I can't wait to see what it is!" Yang widened her eyes, "All three of us? That's a surprise, think we're finally getting some actual work?"

With a shrug of the shoulders, the three girls took to the Chief's office, finding him with his head in his hands. "Take a seat girls… We need to have a talk." His voice carried through the office and with it came a tone of calm urgency. Yang shook her head immediately, "If we're in trouble, I swear it wasn't me!"

The chief sighed as heavily as Yang had before, "No, Officer Xiao Long… this wasn't for that, but now that you mention it, should I be aware of something?" Yang shook her head so fast both redheads were surprised her luscious mane of hair didn't slap her in the face. The only sound that could be heard was Ruby's hand slapping her own face.

Nikos changed the topic almost immediately, "We'll touch on that later officer. No, now is a different matter. Tell me, what do you know about the Phantom Thief Crescent?" All three of the girls stood up straight at the mention of the name.

Yang's excitement could barely be contained, "I only heard stories about the guy!" Ruby chimed in, not wanting to be left behind, "Me too! Mom would tell us stories about how you and her would always try to catch him, even going as far as locking down an entire building to catch him!"

If Nikos was hurt being reminded of his failures, he didn't show it. "Yes, the very same… It seems after all this time he plans to come back, but seeing how I can no longer jump into the fray with him, I need someone that can. That's why I'm asking you three to go in my place. I need a strong team to chase him, something that I learned from my own failure of refusing help against him. That's why I have brought all three of you in here. Each one of you has something that can tip the scales in our favor."

Yang's confident smile began to appear as she heard each word, "Oh really now? What do you mean by that?"

Nikos locked eyes with her as he started to speak, "Yang Xiao Long, an ex-boxing prodigy, during those fights, you could easily see things most miss and exploit those mistakes to gain an upper hand in your fights. While they may not translate exactly over to our jobs, a mind able to react almost immediately to changing inputs is ideal. Your passion to the force has not gone unnoticed as well. It seems you want a challenge and continuously strive to better yourself."

His head moved over to Ruby, "Ruby Rose, the track star, pushing yourself in order to be faster and better than the others. While your drive to better yourself could rival Yang's, you have other goals. Your head isn't in the clouds, but at the same time you want to bring home our brothers and sisters from the job. Apart from that, you have one of the simplest goals in the force, you just want to make the world a better place and you have taken steps to make that a reality."

Ruby's smile went unnoticed, as she hid most of her face in her scarf.

"Last but not least, Pyrrha. You have the knowledge of Crescent's movements and his abilities from the stories you would hear from me, so apart from me you may be the best to lead this team. Apart from that, your talents are second to none, the best marksman, a black belt in karate, and a shining star in our station."

Chief of Police Nikos addressed the group in whole once more, "If you all choose to do so, I would love to have you three form a team to take on this threat."

Yang put her fists together, her smile going from a slight grin to plastered on her face. "Just try and stop me! The Golden Dragon vs the Phantom Thief! Now that's a headline for the news!"

'_This is exactly the break I need! This is the rush I needed! Going up against THE Phantom Thief!'_

Ruby smiled, "Sounds perfect! Officer Ruby Rose is on the case!"

'_Mom would be proud of me, taking on such a big criminal! I gotta do my best to make sure I put Crescent behind bars!'_

Pyrrha's eyes were as wide as saucers, "You really mean it dad? We get to bring this case to a close ourselves?"

'_Is this really a chance to take on Crescent? I'll be the one to close the file on this thief?! Calm down Pyrrha! This is what you wanted! Don't let this chance slip by your fingers!'_

It took every ounce of willpower for all three girls to hide their happiness from the Chief, but thankfully he never noticed. "However, we will need certain things from you. We need you three to bond with one another if you are to take this task, we can't have any mistakes. Ms. Rose, you will need to be added to the mix, I have already assigned Officers Nikos and Xiao-Long as partners in advance for this mission. So go ahead and take the time to get to know each other.

Tonight all three of you will go to the museum and take part of their patrol. It should be empty, perfect for getting to know one another." The girls started to move towards the door, before they could touch the door, Chief Nikos spoke again. "I doubt I need to mention this, but we need him alive, no gunfire or kills. Crescent may be a skilled criminal, but he's no murderer. We need him alive to pay for his crimes."

Alexander Nikos watched them all leave, with Yang loudly proclaiming their victories in capturing the thief, but he wasn't so sure. If Crescent was so easy to handle, he would have never been elevated to the title of Phantom Thief. If he was still handling jobs himself, numbers could somewhat level the playing field in terms of experience. Quantity has its own quality after all, but if Crescent spent time cultivating his own protege? The thief had disappeared for a decade. Knowing him, that time wouldn't have been used for a vacation. He had inspired Pyrrha to do the right thing, to pursue justice, to be someone people can look up to. Despite what others may have thought, he never wanted her to spend her life chasing Crescent like he had. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to.

That night, the three girls made their way to the Emerald Museum in order to help out with the patrols there. As they made their way inside Ruby stared at the museum's own security questioningly, "Why were we told to come and take care of the museum if this place already has its own security?" Yang shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe they needed more help?" It seemed as good as any other reason she supposed. Pyrrha looked around, "It's more likely Chief Nikos wants us in the actual environments that Crescent focuses on, giving us more time to understand the layout of the place." Ruby and Yang stared at one another, impressed by Pyrrha's reasoning.

As they walked into the museum a loud cry could be heard coming from inside, "PYRRHA!" The sisters quickly focused on what appeared to be an orange flash coming their way. It took only seconds for that flash to reach and spin Pyrrha in an embrace that could shatter one's bones.

"Hello there, Nora!" she managed to groan out as the flash became more visible to the team.

Being content with her presence being known, she put down Pyrrha and looked at the other girls. Taking a few steps back from the hyperactive girl, the redhead could hear Yang ask, "Who is she?" Pyrrha took in deep breaths, hoping to recover some air from Nora's almost back-breaking hug.

"Her name is Nora, I met her in a cafe one day and we just talked. Nora nodded in agreement and saluted them eagerly. "Nora Valkyrie at your service!"

Ruby stared at the girl. The girl Pyrrha called Nora seemed to dress somewhat casually, her black shirt tucked into her pink skirt, while wearing white and pink sneakers. Similarly there was a man running up to them, magenta eyes following what was the orange blur while his jet black hair had a single strand of pink in it. He was dressed in blue jeans, a white shirt, a green button up shirt, helping to cover himself up. Both of them wore a simple band on their left ring fingers.

"Here's Renny!" Nora exclaimed as the man had caught up with them. She seemed to present him as her arms waved in his general direction.

The man, for all her efforts, smiled slightly and spoke quietly, "Hello everyone. I'm Lie Ren, just call me Ren. I can see you met my…" He seemed to hesitate to finish his sentence, but Nora smiled and hugged him tightly. By the expression on his face, Yang guessed it was around the same type of hug that Pyrrha suffered.

She rolled her eyes playfully and let him go, "You can say it Renny, I don't mind!" She presented her ring happily, "I'm his wife!"

The girls happily talked with the couple, somewhat losing themselves until Ruby noticed the folder in Ren's hands. "What are those?"

Ren looked down as he opened the folder, "Oh, I help run an organization for charity. We collect money for several causes all around Remnant. Right now we're gathering money to help support Vale's school and road systems!"

Ren started to go into more detail as Yang looked around. Yang's eyes started to wander and noticed little details in the building. The artifact, or display room was a rounded room, the upper floors also being open in the same way, allowing the moonlight from the glass ceiling touch the bottom floor. She was sure that if she went up to the other floors she could look down from the railings of the museum and see the first floor. It was beautiful, but also very simple in design. It didn't take long before lilac eyes came back to her team.

Both Pyrrha and Ruby were looking at Ren, but Yang could tell they were only playing nice. While Ren's work could be life-changing, it was also stopping them from doing their own jobs. That's when her knight-in-a bunny-hoodie came? She didn't know or really care about the young man, but whatever would let her get back to work was a welcome thing right now. Yang wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The stranger walked up to them with a smile on his face, almost giving his back to the girls and pulling Ren's and Nora's attention to himself. "You said something about charities? How could I go about donating?" Ren's folder opened up again as he started to tell him all the ways they could help out in the donation process. While Ren was talking to the whole group, Yang took the chance and motioned for Pyrrha to move on, which she accepted.

Pyrrha waved to catch Nora's attention and pointed to her police badge, motioning to the display cases. Nora nodded and waved at them, slowly coming back into Ren's and the stranger's conversation. All she noted of the man was his blonde hair and the fact that he was like 6 feet tall. The last thing she heard from them was the trio of strangers exchanging scroll numbers.

'_Okay Pyrrha! Time to work! We need to get our game face on!'_

Ruby watched as they excitedly talked about the different charities, the last one of the three girls to walk away from them. While she wanted to help anyway she could too, she had a job to do and sadly, that would have to come first.

She hurried up, watching Yang explain to the museum security who they were and why they were present. It didn't take long for the other guards to nod and explain where they were to be for the night.

Ruby joined the other girls in the display room as she saw the several artifacts and exhibits the museum contained within. There was a circlet with what she assumed were emeralds hanging off two chains. She watched as people came and went from the display cases, the other ones having the ex-King of Vale's old pearls and what she assumed to be the royal crown itself.

Another held the sword of the King, said to grant victory in battle to those that wielded it. An old folklore that lasted over time, she figured. A small smile crossed her lips as the thoughts of a magical relic with powers sounded so much like a fairytale. She took her time with each one of the displays as she moved through the museum. It wasn't that long before she regrouped with the redhead and her sister.

She made her way to Pyrrha, giving said redhead her full attention, "Okay girls, we may be able to do more good if we split up and take each floor separated. Two of us will stay in this display room just in case something happens, while we send one of us with the other guards to double check an upper floor, then we come back and alternate. Sound good?" Yang nodded, "Sounds good, I just spoke with the head of security here, he told me we're free to do as we want just so long as we don't mess up the cases."

All three nodded and started to separate from each other as the lights started to flicker on and off by themselves. This caught everyone's attention, guests and officers alike starting to look at the lights. Without a warning, the room grew dark, the light's touch vanishing. One light coming back on took only seconds, but that drew everyone's attention to the roof.

Light wasn't the only thing that single spotlight gave them, it also gave them a perfect view of a white and gold clad magician seemingly floating towards them from the sky. No one could believe their eyes, the man was falling with such grace, the display cases he landed on made no mention or noise at the sudden weight change.

The three girls couldn't do much but stare jaws wide open as a confident smirk appeared on the magician's face. "Good evening officers, I hope you are as ready as I am for my return!" The room was overtaken by his sudden appearance, so much so that even a pin falling could be heard.

Meanwhile the man just stood there, his smile as bright and confident as all the stories the girls had heard about him. It wasn't long before he jumped down from the display, his cape covering the glass that held the Champion's Heart completely. It was only that action, seeing that his target was in the thief's hands, that their minds started to work once more.

The room was quiet until a single command was issued, "Get him!" Yang turned to see Ruby had been the one who screamed at the guards to jump into action, and without a second thought they responded. All of the guards in the display room sprung into action, along with the three girls.

"Don't let him get the circlet!"

"Grab him and pull him in!"

"Don't let him out of your sight!"

Commands and orders were issued more frequently by the guards, but by the time they jumped, a smoke bomb had already consumed them all. Yang coughed at the sudden "attack" and instead chose to stay out of the mess that was sure to come out, instead waiting for Crescent to jump out of somewhere.

The guards became nothing more than a mess of tangled limbs, each one of them trying to push the others out of the way in order to capture the Phantom Thief. It didn't take long for the smoke to clear from the room, revealing nothing but guards in uniforms.

Pyrrha raised her voice to make sure everyone heard, "Everyone get back!"

The guards seemed to comply with her orders, but their blood ran cold as they all noticed the stand that once held the Champion's Heart was empty. Without missing a beat, Pyrrha took charge of the situation. "I want this place in complete lockdown! No one leaves this place without a search from us! I want a guard by every door! We need to smoke this criminal out! Stick together and find Crescent!"

Ruby and Yang nodded and ran off in one direction, leaving Pyrrha with one of the museum's guards. She motioned for him to move, running ahead.

'_Think Pyrrha, according to dad, Crescent would often frequent restrooms and any other side rooms.'_

She took out her radio and switched it on, "All teams! Check any room that is connected to the display room, any restroom, any janitor closet, anything you can think of! If you can run into it from the display case, I want it checked!"

The guard next to her smiled at her, "You're taking this really well! You seem to know what you're doing here Ms…?" Pyrrha nodded and continued to scan the area, barely taking the moment to pay much attention to him, "Thank you, and my name is Pyrrha Nikos." The guard smiled widely, "Oh wow, such an honor to meet the rising star of the VPD!" Pyrrha smiled politely at him, "Keep your search up, we don't want him getting away from us tonight." The pair ran up to the fourth floor, double checking everything in the museum, Pyrrha even noting how high they were.

Unfortunately for her, the guard seemed to have everything but searching for Crescent on his mind. His questions seemed endless but one statement managed to catch her attention.

"Well Ms. Nikos, I don't know what Papa Nikos did, but I'm certainly glad with the results."

The sudden shift in conversation widened her eyes, her head turning to find herself face to face with the man she assumed to be Crescent, his smile plastered on his face. How he could be so confident she didn't know, his hand grabbed the guard's uniform and as he pulled, revealed his white outfit.

With a tip of his hat, she could see the Champion's Heart on his head. Pyrrha glared at him, "What do you want?" Crescent laughed as he rose his hands in mock surrender, "Whoa whoa, I come in peace. I just wanted to see the new officers that will indulge me in this game."

Pyrrha shook her head, "What makes you think we'll play your game?" She started to get closer to the balcony, allowing herself to be seen from the lower floors or the artifact display room. Hopefully the girls could see her and move towards her. All she had to do was keep Crescent talking, but she doubted it would be hard to keep his mouth running. Crescent, meanwhile, had his back turned to her, seemingly looking out the giant single pane of glass that separated him from freedom.

Yang's and Ruby's search wasn't fairing much better as they kept coming up with dead ends or empty rooms. Ruby kept her eyes somewhat low, searching for any clues while Yang's eyes seemed to search the roof. It was only because of her wandering eyes that Yang spotted the long red tail of hair shifting on the rails. Upon closer inspection, Pyrrha was making hand gestures, only one she could understand. "Come here." She nudged Ruby, and with both of them alert made their way to Pyrrha.

"I say that because the VPD have always been good sports about this game. Before you ask Ms. Nikos, no I am not the same Crescent from the past, I'm new and boy am I going to have some fun. After all, the day I announce my visit back, you three show up with the guards? That's certainly new. All I hope is that such cute girls don't leave me wanting." WIth a wink of his eye, he continued, "I'll see you around Ms. Nikos! Tell Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long I hope to meet them soon!"

The thief turned to face her once more. Pyrrha could see Crescent smile as with a snap of his fingers, the windows behind him opened wide, giving him an easy escape. Without his eyes separating from Pyrrha's he stepped onto the edge, "Oh, and remember that stalling for time can work against you too. Memorize this well! Rule #1! Anything is a distraction!"

With that, he leapt from the edge and fell. Pyrrha immediately rushed over just to find nothing. No paraglider or parachute, just the city and all the lights. Her eyes scoured the area, not finding any trace of him. For all intents and purposes, he had vanished. It wasn't long before Yang and Ruby appeared by her side.

"He got away?" Ruby's question, while innocent, only seemed to slap Pyrrha with her failure. All she could do was nod silently.

**A/N: I'll try to keep the story coming out smoothly. Next chapter will definitely have more Yang and Ruby! As the story will be focusing on the girls, we will increase the cast slowly, for now though enjoy Vale! **


	3. PTC: Extra

**A/N: This is just something that came to mind when I was deciding on where to take the story. I liked the idea, that I needed to write it down. Let me know what you guys think!**

**Halloween Extra**

Halloween had arrived, and with it, Yang suggested that the police station throw a Halloween bash to celebrate! Normally Pyrrha and Ruby would go against her in this regard, except she managed to make her case on the party pretty well.

"Come on! We need this! After all that running around chasing that stupid magician? We practically NEED this break to cut loose and enjoy ourselves! When's the last time we did anything fun before Crescent showed up?"

Ruby was quick to respond to her sister's wishes, almost more of an involuntary reaction more than actually responding to her words. "YAAANG! We don't need a party to have fun! We can just hang out, all three of us!"

Pyrrha nodded and smiled, "I suppose it would be fun to have that party? After all, it's not just us that's working hard on bringing down Crescent, the rest of the police force should also be included in the festivities."

Yang's fists seemed to reach for the sky, "Yes! P-money's onboard Ruby! 2 to 1! Majority rules!" Even though Pyrrha could see Ruby deflate at the social interaction that was in her future, an idea sparked in her head.

"Since it's going to be a Halloween party, can we dress up as anything we want?"

Yang immediately nodded her head, "That sounds amazing Rubes! I have the perfect idea in mind! No sharing ideas though, all of us have to choose our costume ourselves!"

Once the idea was cemented, the girls went to run their idea by the Chef in order to decorate the station for those who would attend. Considering their jobs, it would be everyone not on the streets.

All three of them went home to work on their costumes, hopeful about the party. Yang smiled as she finished her costume, "I'm sure to stand out with this!"

Pyrrha giggled at hers, "I doubt anyone would try this."

Ruby clapped her hands as she looked at her finished product, made slighter harder with Yang constantly going in and out of her own room. "Awwww yeah! It's perfect!"

Days passed as the girls got the station ready for the party, each one focusing on different things. It went by better since Crescent was seemingly busy with his own things, well apart from stealing the girls would assume from the lack of cards that the station had received.

Pyrrha hurried to the station in hopes of getting the jump on her co-workers, excited as can be. She adjusted her costume, making sure everything was alright before she kicked the door open.

"Hello Vale! I hope you can catch…" Her face fell rapidly as she noticed the room that was staring back at her. Instead of the sea of blue from the police uniforms, Pyrrha could see only white and gold tonight. Most of the police force had apparently been on some sort of group chat that she must have been missing from. She sighed heavily as the room was filled with Crescent costumes.

She walked in, her shoulders slumped and her feet dragging her to the punch bowl, domain to Crescent Rose and Crescent Ruby. Captain Rose smiled brightly at the two girls, "Not what you expected?" she asked with an almost visible grin on her face.

Pyrrha could only shake her head, "I thought everyone would come dressed up like anything else other than the ONE guy we can't seem to catch!" Ruby nodded, "I figured the same…" Captain Rose laughed and shuffled off, watching how the rest of the party would go.

Yang, on the other hand was setting up music in the corner, trying to get some people dancing. Gods help whomever Yang was planning to dance with, but the other girls knew it wouldn't take long for the social butterfly that was Yang to make sure this would be a party.

Without missing a beat, she started to DJ the entire event herself, making the office come alive with dance fever. Even though she was the cause, Yang seemed to be the one worst afflicted with the dance fever.

Her body seemed to move perfectly in sync with the music, and it only got better, or worse Ruby mentioned, the more people would join her in the dance. It only took Yang ten minutes before the whole place resembled a club more than their office.

Pyrrha's jaw dropped when she noticed her own father actively participating. The stone cold Chief was dancing worse than Yang.

It was only a matter of time before Yang set her sights on her team, both of them still looking around while protecting the punch bowl. "Come on guys, the party is amazing, you should join in! Who knows? You might have fun!" Ruby shouted back at her, "Yang this is more your thing! I'm only here because I can dress up in a costume! This isn't how I wanted to spend my birthday!" Yang stuck her tongue out and smiled, "Awww, come on Rubes! THis is the best way to spend your birthday! Hanging out with the best sis? That's like the best present you can get!"

Ruby sighed, knowing that Yang wouldn't give up with her party pursuits, reluctantly walking over to the "dance floor" that had been set up.

In Ruby's defense, she tried to dance as well as she could, but it didn't take a dancer to figure out Ruby's feet were more for running than dancing. Before long, Ruby was trying to get Pyrrha to join them as well, because if Ruby was going to suffer then so was Pyrrha.

It wouldn't take much to convince the redhead to join them, but to her own surprise, Pyrrha was very nimble when it comes to dancing. Yang quickly joined them, determined to make sure her team was having the fun they deserved after the couple of nights they had.

Ruby wouldn't admit it to anyone, but coming to the party wasn't a bad experience, it wouldn't be something that she would seek herself, but it was a good time.

Pyrrha could see the appeal of the dancing in clubs, despite still not wanting to go personally. Yang did have a point, they did deserve to let themselves relax.

The door slammed open, much like Pyrrha had to reveal another Crescent, this time with blonde hair and the biggest grin on her face. Her eyes were closed and her arms outstretched, seemingly to call whatever attention she could to herself. "The party has arrived!"

Even the music seemed to stop itself to let the world settle itself. Yang opened her eyes and noticed that the entire station was staring at her, all of them in confusion.

Without a word, they all looked at the Yang that was with them, then back to another Yang at the door. When the door Yang's changed from bright lilac to red, everyone stepped back. No one had any doubts about which Yang was the real one.

The dance floor Yang had the decency to at least look somewhat guilty as she spoke, "Happy Halloween?"


	4. Sister's Night In

**A/N: Trying to get it out consistently sucks, but here is the new chapter! Thank you everyone for reading this story! If you have any comments, concerns, or just wanna review go ahead and let me know.**

First thing in the morning, Yang was already in Chief Nikos' office along with Pyrrha, giving her side of the report from the previous night. Having to take care of Ruby when they were young, Yang could easily tell that Pyrrha was taking last night harsher than they were. She seemed to have thought the failure was her fault, even though it was clearly a bad situation for anyone to be put into.

"He talked down to us and left! He was my "partner" in the lockdown search! I don't know how I could have missed him!" the redhead relayed the events from last night. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.

Yang shook her head, "He's not the Phantom Thief for nothing Pyrrha, we could have had Chief Nikos with us, the guy that knows him best, but that wouldn't have guaranteed us Crescent's capture. Her face seemed to agree with the blonde, but her mind was clearly elsewhere.

She opened her mouth and then shook her head, deciding to keep whatever thoughts she had to herself. Yang placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's alright Pyrrha, let it out." Even though the contact really didn't feel like much, Yang knew it was enough to keep her going.

With a small nod, Pyrrha opened her mouth once more, "He mentioned that he wasn't the same Crescent. I had never asked him anything to that regard, he just gave it up himself. He also mentioned something about him announcing his visit."

Chief NIkos could only sigh as he pulled out a card from his desk, "Yes, he did send a card with his symbol… by bird no less. He warned us that he would take the circlet again, and this time it seems he did."

This didn't sit well with Pyrrha. It was only when Ruby spoke up that anyone noticed her presence, "That isn't good, but on the bright side, he's back. If he's anything like the last one, then he won't stop at one heist."

Pyrrha nodded as Ruby's train of thought connected. Ruby continued, "So that means we'll have more chances, even if this one didn't go as planned! We need to collect all the information we can on him, and make sure next time we're ready for him! Chief Nikos is there any way that you have recordings of previous heists that Crescent has made? Maybe his past is the chance we need to crack this case in the future!"

Chief Nikos smiled and nodded, "I'll have someone leave you girls a couple of recordings of my battles with him. Hopefully you can avoid some of my pitfalls."

The news certainly cheered Pyrrha, but Yang had other plans. "Before that, we need to make sure that we get along with ourselves!"

Pyrrha nodded and smiled, "How about a day together? We can get to know ourselves and learn more about each other? Maybe we can figure out a way to better work together? After all, teamwork will be an important factor for us!"

Both sisters had ideas about what to do together, each one different from what the other wanted. It wasn't long before an argument broke out between the two. While they were loud, everyone could see it was a playful fight. Pyrrha could only smile as she seemed to get lost in her own head again. Pyrrha watched her teammates and could only smile at their antics.

´_This is my team, and even though I barely know them I like them.'_

Nikos got up, catching their attention before they could go any further with their plans. He seemed to tower over them with his confident stance. "One thing you should always remember is that Crescent is a thief that uses magic as a tool to escape. He is NOT a magician that steals. Never underestimate the difference. That is one lesson I hope you girls don't need to learn by experience." Pyrrha nodded, but pondered about his words.

'_Aren't those two the same things? Might need to keep an open mind about it. Dad wouldn't mention it if it wasn't helpful.'_

The "fight" having died down, all three girls made their way out of the office, Pyrrha still somewhat lost in her mind. Without questioning, Pyrrha followed them, Her phone seem to ring as they walked, her caller ID notifying her that her new friend was calling. Answering it, she heard a scream that she knew only Nora could produce, "PYRRHA!" Both Ruby and Yang stopped to watch their teammate flinch at the voice, knowing who the caller was immediately.

"Hello Nora! How are you today?" Nora's voice seemed to stay stuck on eleven as she talked.

"Renny and I were heading into Vale today and wanted to see if you wanted to hang out with us?" Pyrrha looked at her teammates, wondering how they were going to respond. Both Yang and Ruby nodded, but the redhead knew they had their plans. "Tell you what, all three of us will join you later. We need to attend a team meeting right now." Even though it was voice only, Ruby and Yang could tell Nora was smiling, "We'll keep you posted then!"

With a nod, the redhead smiled just as brightly as Nora, ending the call and turning to her teammates, "Where are we going first?" Yang smiled, a sudden idea having popped into her head, "Why we're going to knock out two birds with one stone!"

She dragged Pyrrha into a conference room while shouting at Ruby, "Rubes! Get all the snacks you can! Movie night!" As soon as Yang shouted movie night, Pyrrha understood what was about to happen. Without a second glance, both of them were in the room, starting to set up the projector that was stored in that room for presentations. Pyrrha ran outside and grabbed the video recordings that Chief Nikos had left for them on Pyrrha's desk. Ruby came back with all the snacks she could carry, most of them being chocolate chip cookies. Pyrrha didn't mind, having a sweet tooth for chocolate herself.

Having the projector set up, she loaded up the first of the clips they were going to watch. It was body camera footage for a Alexander Nikos during his time chasing Crescent. The girls could see the footage coming alive, this time the location seemed to be Beacon University.

**Alexander's voice could be heard as he turned his camera capturing Beacon's landscape. The open courtyard that housed a variety of plant life, both bushes and trees. All of them surrounding a single statue that was encased with glass, a sword and shield in the statue's arms. Around the courtyard were the classroom buildings, most of them several floors tall with the library erected a small walk to the south from the statue. **

**Along with the scenery, the focus was on a single woman. She was taller than most of the other guards in the courtyard. Nikos had to look up in slightly to see her golden curls and her emerald eyes. Compared to the guards that wore blue and white, she had a white button up shirt tucked into a long black skirt. **

"**Glynda, have the guards keep watch over all the entrances. Crocea Mors cannot be taken! I'll head in myself later. My men and I will form a perimeter around the area."**

Ruby's voice could be heard from the back, "Crocea Mors?" Isn't that the sword and shield combo that used to be in the school? I thought he only stole jewels?"

**Almost as if the video heard her question, Nikos' stated, "We can't let him take the sword… That relic is worth more than any of the jewels he's tried taking. Oddly enough, it seemed that only some of the stolen jewels were good enough for him to take." **

**Glynda nodded and left inside the courtyard in order to ensure the sword's safety. The camera showed Alexander's trip around the main office, which housed the ancient relic. After seeing officer after officer in their spots, Nikos himself entered the courtyard, only to find himself staring at the statue of the Hero of the Great War. Suddenly, the lights that lit up the grounds started to flicker and each time they did, the lights would stay off longer than the last time.**

"Hey! That's what happened with us!" Pyrrha noted. Yang snickered, "Guess our Crescent isn't that original."

**Alexander watched as Crescent seemed to instantly appear on the Crocea Mors' case. One moment the case was sealed and alone, then the next the case was being pulled open by the white cloaked magician. **

"Huh, I guess ours is different. Crescent's suit here is pure white, while ours has golden trim." interjected Yang. Ruby agreed, "He could just have switched his style to make sure we noticed. This is definitely a different Crescent."

**A lone voice was heard talking to Alexander, "Dear Nikos! I'm glad you could make it! This operation may have not been as fun as it could have been without you!" "What are you doing here Crescent?! You don't steal weapons!" replied Alexander. **

**Crescent smiled as he jumped into the air, seemingly flying back into the air, "That's the thing about us thieves, we can steal whatever we need to! I only went after gems because I needed those gems! Now I don't, which means it's open season for anything I want!" Alexander watched him glide through the air with a scowl on his face, his legs already moving for the stairs, hoping to catch him somewhere. Glynda started to bark out orders to the guards, "Start moving, I want that man caught! He can't leave here no matter what!" **

Ruby noticed the case, "Hey, the case still has the sword! He left without the sword and shield?" Pyrrha answered, "Maybe he left it because there is too much security at the moment? He'll be back I think?"

**Alexander moved quickly in order to cut off Crescent's escape, only for him to seemingly taunt him, his lips turning into his familiar smirk. "Tell me Nikos, why is it that we constantly find ourselves in this game?" **

**Alexander barked back, "We keep seeing each other because someone won't follow the law like everyone else!" All he got for his statement was Crescent's laugh. As soon as Crescent got to the library, Alexander's camera no longer caught him anymore, instead showing the officer's journey to the school library's top floor. Crescent's own rising body had lead him there, so it makes sense that Crescent would "fly" there. **

Pyrrha watched with anticipation at her father's actions, 'Come on dad, what are you going to do? He's getting a head start on you."

Yang seemingly agreed with her, "Come on Chief, you got this! Show us your skills!"

**The stairs seemed countless, but Alexander managed to burst through the last door. Just as he reached the top floor, the officers were searching for the magician, but no one had any clues, all of them just patrolling the area. It was this little detail that made Nikos cautious. **

"**He never leaves our sight, he always wanted the world to see his escapes. So vanishing now seems like he would be doing the opposite." **

**His eyes narrowed, his mind taking in all the information about the thief that he knew, "He's somewhere around here, he's just making sure that we all leave. That means he doesn't have an actual escape plan."**

**Crescent's voice could be heard bouncing off the walls somewhere in the courtyard, "Rule # 2 Nikos! Sometimes, keeping your eyes on the ball is the worst thing you can do! Magicians always like keeping your attention on their hands before we pull off our miracles!" **

Pyrrha frowned at the words, "Another lesson? That's odd. Our Crescent also gave me one of those. His was just "Anything can be a distraction". This was before he started to look out the window.**" **

Ruby nodded and wrote down both of the "lessons", hoping that they would let them capture the thief in the act. If anything it would at least give them a better chance.

**Alexander growled as he knew Crescent was mocking him, his "advice" doing nothing more than just aggravating him. It was only when Glynda was shouting through the radio that his mind snapped back into place. "The alarm for Crocea Mors just sounded! How did he get back to the case without us knowing?!" His breath was unusually loud as he breathed out the only word that came to his mind. "Fuck."**

Ruby tilted her head, unsure of what was happening, "How did he get back down to get Crocea Mors when everyone was on his tail?" Yang whistled, "Well they don't call him the Phantom Thief for nothing." It was like watching a movie, both sides clearly trying to one up the other.

**Alexander could only get to the window as he saw the magician laugh. "My my, was that it for tonight Nikos? I expected more from you." A small laugh could be heard from Nikos himself. **

"**You think me running around is the only thing we have for you? You insult me Crescent, and here I thought you wanted to play." **

Yang listened to him, "Wow, he sounds so confident at losing the shield and sword." Ruby pitched in, "He's got something planned! I can feel it!" Pyrrha could only watch with bated breath for whatever trick her father had planned for the thief.

**From the multitudes of trees in the courtyard, officers started swarming the case. Crescent could only watch as the trees and bushes gave birth to waves of blue, all of it quickly surrounding him. Within seconds, Crescent was surrounded, officers ready to jump in. **

"**My, my, this is certainly a pleasant surprise! You have been paying attention to our little games Mr. Nikos!" With a smile on his face and his hand holding his hat tightly, he raised his hand in mock surrender. **

**His eyes were scanning the officers, trying to find someway out, but the officers were so tightly knit with each other that he wouldn't be able to pass by them without someone raising the alarm. Ground escape wouldn't be possible. **

"**I must commend you for this! However, you need more than just men to stop me Nikos. A great thief is an art form!" With a smile on his face, he turned to the night sky and smiled. **

"**My dearest Glynda, do you think I can have this dance?" **

**The officers turned to the roof Crescent was watching only to find the lone figure of Glynda Goowitch holding out her hand, almost as if willing Crescent to her. The moon lit up her golden locks and her emerald eyes seemed to focus intently on the magician in the crowd, a smile spreading across her face. **

**The officer's jaws fell as quickly as they had moved in when Crescent seemed to levitate once more, this time his body being pulled towards Glynda. Nikos' eyes widened, "Glynda?! The school's disciplinary was working with Crescent?!" **

The girls jaws mimicked the officers in the recording, Ruby being the only one who could talk, "Why would she do that?! She's working with a criminal?!" Pyrrha and Yang simply looked at each other.

**Crescent stepped onto the roof alongside Glynda and turned to face his captive audience. "Thank you for a fun game tonight! As a reward, I will leave Crocea Mors for tonight, it seems like I'm missing something. You played well Nikos, but I'm afraid you still need something more before you can win this game." With those words, the Magician and the Disciplinary shared a kiss before vanishing from the rooftop, seemingly into the night. **

The recording ended there, leaving the girls in shock. When no one made to stop the video, the recordings played another case by itself. While the shock took a while to break, the girls eventually went back to watching the videos that they had.

In each one of the videos, the girls started to relax more with one another and talked more during the "movies". They laughed and joked with each other, thinking up different scenes on how they were going to beat Crescent. By the end of the clips, all three had a smile on their faces. They cleaned up the mess they had made and returned everything to its rightful place. Before the girls could plan to do anything else, a message appeared on Pyrrha's phone.

'_Hey Pyrrha, Ren and I are going to our friend's cafe! You should come join us! Come hang out with us!'_

Pyrrha smiled and asked the girls if they wanted to. In less than 20 minutes, all three of them were walking into the cafe labeled "Bun Bun's". It was the same cafe Pyrrha and Yang had visited before, the owner being a Velvet Scarlatina.

Watching the girls leaving the office, Chief Nikos heard his scroll ring, the song he heard was immediately recognized. He answered the call, looking at two pairs of amber eyes looking at him, raven black hair framing both their faces.

The gentleman's hair gave him a regal look to him as his hair mixed perfectly into his beard. The woman's smile was brightly shining at him. "Belladonnas, how can I help you?"

Nikos knew about them from his career, the Belladonnas having been members of their own defense force back in Menagerie. The woman of the two waved at him, her eyes seemingly turning bright and her lips formed a slight smirk,"We think we have something that may catch your attention."

Her words seem honeyed, almost like she was teasing him about something. It was only when the man cleared his throat that the woman turned away and giggled, "Come on Ghira, you need to let me have some fun here and there too!"

The man named Ghira sighed, his stoic face breaking slightly at his wife's antics. "This is supposed to be an important call Kali." Nikos waited for them to finish their "argument". As he listened to the two, Kali raised a white card to the screen, revealing the twin crescents on it. Both parties of the call turned quiet as Ghira composed himself,

"As we were about to mention, we received one of those calling cards you always mentioned to us. That is why we have called you today, you had mentioned in one of your earlier calls that you are forming a team for bringing him down correct? I was wondering about that team."

Nikos couldn't hide the grin from HIS team already being scouted for international work, "The team is made here, but like you we have our own card. Two days before he strikes here, what about you?"

Kali chimed in helpfully, "According to the card, one week from today he'll try to steal Gambol Shroud, my own onyx necklace. The necklace of the "queen" so to speak." Nikos nodded in understanding, "As soon as our situation is complete here, I'll have the team head over there."

**A/N: Last chapter before we move onto another place and introduce our first addition to the cast! I'm sure everyone can guess who is joining right?**


	5. Crescent Rose

The girls may their way to the cafe, looking around a bit, looking for Ren and Nora. The inside of the cafe was a warm caramel color, with a few tables spread around, giving visitors ample leg room.

Against one of the walls was a counter with several cakes and coffee machines, with a door that lead to the back. Walking back and forth was a brown haired girl with matching bunny ears, her outfit a simple black skirt and white shirt, while an apron was draped over the shirt.

Nora quickly shot up from her seat and waved her entire arm, calling all the store's attention to herself as she smiled brightly, "Over here!"

While Nora was busy catching the attention of their guests, Ren sipped his tea casually, the girl's antics almost mundane for him. What caught their attention was the fact that Nora was wearing a familiar circlet on her head.

Three sets of eyes went from Nora to her head as they managed to get closer. Yang was the first of them to talk, "That's a nice piece of jewelry, I didn't know they sold something like that."

Nora giggled and spoke bluntly, "I didn't buy it silly, Crescent gave it to me!" A small squeak came from Ruby as Pyrrha's attention was focused on them completely. Ren spoke up before any questions could be asked. "That's the reason why we wanted to meet with you girls." Nora added, "This and the news about him too!"

Pyrrha took a deep breath, _'Why did it feel like today just took a major nosedive?_'

Ren quickly motioned for the girls to take a seat, "Seems we have a lot to unpack for you."

Yang scoffed, "That's one way of putting it."

If Ren was offended, then his face needed to be told, his expression as unreadable as ever. He simply pulled out his phone and pulled out a video. "I took this the day we met, you girls were working at the museum that night I believe." All of them huddled around the phone as he played the video.

**Without a doubt the first voice they could hear was Nora's, "Hurry up Renny! We have to record this before he gets away!" Ren's phone panned up to see a white hanglider coming from the museum, a messy blonde-haired man flying away from what had been his debut appearance. **

**The camera focused on him, it wasn't long before a flash lit up the night, catching his attention. Ren's voice chided Nora, "Why did you take a picture of him when we have him on video?" **

**Nora's response was short, "My bad!" **

**It didn't take long before the man in white turned his glider and started to make his way onto the floor to them! Nora effortlessly moved in front of Ren, shielding him in case Crescent would try anything. **

**He quickly landed, his paraglider vanishing into his cape in front of them. "Good evening, I assume you wanted to speak with me? A bright flash in the middle of the night isn't a very good way to keep oneself hidden." **

**Nora chuckled nervously. Ren put his hand out, careful about engaging with the magician. "Lie Ren, charity fundraiser." **

**Crescent smiled as he shook Ren's hand, "Crescent, the Moonlit Magician." Nora's embarrassment subsidized and she all but yelled in his ear, "I'm Nora Valkyrie!" Crescent seemed visibly shaken by Nora's outburst, but soon recovered.**

**Crescent's eyes seem to shift up and down on both of them as he studied them. He then seemed to shift seamlessly into a smile once more. "You guys know the police officers? Xiao Long, Rose and Nikos? The girls you were talking to before I came along?" He didn't wait for a response, already looking into his cape as if he were to look into a purse. "You may want to give them this then." **

**He then pulled out the Champion's Heart from nowhere, giving it to Nora. "It appears it's not what I was looking for, that and it's fake so I don't want it." Nora took it and carefully put the circlet on, "It's so pretty!" **

**Ren was suspicious though, "You went through all the trouble of stealing it for nothing? Why bother stealing it then? Wouldn't the cops just replace each item you want to steal with a fake?"**

**Crescent's smile turned into a smirk, "It's a game the VPD and I have. Switching them out is no-no though. It ruins the fun knowing the items aren't there. So long as both parties agree to the rules, then we keep our game fair."**

**It wasn't long before Crescent noticed patrol cars starting to move out and with a bow to the married couple, he disappeared into the night once more. **

The video ended there, the officers quiet and examining Nora's newest headpiece. "So he gave you the fake headpiece?" asked Ruby.

'_Why was it a fake? I mean it makes sense to make the thief think he got the actual thing, but he seemed to know shortly after stealing it that it was fake.'_

Nora nodded and took it off, handing it to the girls, "Figured we should return it to the police, but if someone were to see me with it, well simply saying that we aren't Crescent wouldn't work. That's why we thought of you." Yang interrupted, "Wait, you were wearing it when we walked in, you brought it in on your head?"

Nora shook her head, "Of course not! I put it on to catch your attention!" Her honesty still managed to bring a shock to the girls. Pyrrha took it nodded, "It's probably a good idea that you told us. This way we can at least know he didn't take it for sure.

Yang watched Pyrrha put the circlet in her bag as they all stood there, unsure of what they needed to do. One thing was certain, Crescent would be attempting another robbery the following day so they needed the time to prepare.

Thanks to Ren and Nora's video, the girls managed to look at Crescent and get a clear view of his face seeing how the man didn't even bother to place a mask on his head. Hell even a monocle would have hidden something of his face! He was either extremely brave or extremely stupid for not having thought his "secret identity" situation figured out.

More than that, the video that Ren had shot had made its way to the local news, broadcasting the fact that the infamous thief Crescent had returned and with that video, people on the internet decided he was "cute".

It wasn't long before the Golden Lion Hotel was swarmed with people wanting to see the new thief in the flesh.

The beauty of a gem that was held inside was the Dragon's Claw, a rather yellow diamond that was shaped to "perfection". Within it was it's core, a smaller but no less impressive ruby. Both were placed inside one another by nature, no matter how much anyone would try to claim otherwise. It was because of this fact that the value for the pair went up so much, it was more than just a simple treasure.

So when Crescent declared the Claw as its next target, the hotel's owners immediately called the VPD about the protection of their gem. Standing as one of Vale's highest towers, the Golden Lion Hotel was one of the premier hotels for guests, housing its own collection of artifacts, while the top of the hotel had a large viewing gallery for seeing the city. The area was large and even then, it housed several other priceless relics and in the case of the hotel also houses a small stationary sports car and a motorcycle.

The girls had their hands full trying to ensure the people in the hotel that they would be safe and that Crescent would only go after the jewel, not anything else. As they stepped outside, Ruby could see several news crews and people looking around, hoping to catch the elusive thief before the police could get their hands on him.

It wouldn't be long however, since it was five more minutes until "showtime". Pyrrha double checked the entire hotel, including the room where the gem was being held. It wasn't long before all of the girls separated from each other, going to cover other locations before they would make their fight against Crescent.

If the gods were on their side, then they could have one hell of a headline for tomorrow: VPD captures Crescent! All they needed was a good enough way to catch him. Thankfully Pyrrha had some thoughts on that already.

"Okay girls, since the last time he chased after me, this time we'll try to see if we can get him to chase one of you two. I'll stay here and guard the Dragon's Claw, you two go out there and try to see if he disguises himself as one of the people here. Suspect everyone and don't let anyone leave or enter this room without some sort of test being done on them understood?"

The three girls were separated having Yang and Ruby take the high ground, while Pyrrha stood around the display case with the police. Ruby checked her scroll, seeing it was 7:58 pm, two minutes before Crescent declared his time to arrive.

Each second was a moment closer to their next duel with the unmasked magician. Ruby didn't have time to fret, knowing her older sister was with her and knowing that Pyrrha's plan would work. Even with those securities in place, she wasn't satisfied. Ruby took the time and had a look around before the police showed up, making sure that everything was the same before and after. It wouldn't help anyone if the police moved something only for it to be Crescent's doing somehow. Nothing seemed odd, but if something happened, her first instinct would be to go to the roof.

The movies they watched showed that Crescent had a preference to leaving by hang glider, so his exit must include the roof somehow. Without a doubt in their minds about the time, the girls waited for the match to begin, Ruby's scroll marking 8 pm exactly.

All the police and Pyrrha started to look around. It didn't take long for something to catch their attention, a couple of rolling balls being the offenders. Pyrrha managed to see one up close, seeing how one was in her face, she assumed dropped from the roof. It was a pink ball which cracked itself down the middle, spraying the immediate area with gas. It was a perfectly timed "attack" as the ball sprayed its gas directly into Pyrrha's face, her nose figuring out it was sleeping gas too late.

Her consciousness seemed to fade, her mouth unable to warn the other members of the team of the gas. With a sound thud, her body hit the floor, her last thought cursing the stupid magician. The other balls in the room copied the first, releasing the gas into the room, knocking out the other guards in the room, making the seemingly protected room pointless.

Ruby and Yang heard the sounds of bodies falling in the display room, and becoming more worried for their friends rushed over. Yang could tell Ruby's training was coming in handy as the tiny girl seemed to effortlessly speed forwards, creating a gap in between the sisters.

Her drive to catch this thief pushed her forward, and before long she was alone entering the "crime scene" seeing a satisfied Crescent working on the lock of the case.

"Hands in the air! You're under arrest Crescent! Tonight you're coming with me!"

Ruby's threat seem to fall flat on its face as a warm chuckle seemed to escape his lips. "My my, someone's certainly being forward tonight. Is that your way of asking a boy out?"

Ruby's hands immediately reached for her dust gun, having traded her standard pistol for a non-lethal version in order to catch, not kill the man her gun was pointed at.

He peeked over and his hands were raised immediately, somehow with the gem in his hand. Ruby hadn't heard a click of the case being unlocked, yet he managed to steal it?

"I do like my women a bit forward, so for now I'll submit." Ruby moved forward as Crescent, her weapon still drawn, getting her handcuffs ready.

It was in a swift motion that he took out a handkerchief and tossed it at her. She saw how the cloth seem to cut itself and scatter, making a small tornado of the flakes. It was in that single moment of distraction that Ruby fell prey to Crescent's antics as a giant blanket covered her.

Her body was moved from one side to another and in less than two seconds, her cloth prison seemingly spit her out, a smirking Crescent was over by the door now. Ruby tried to try to close the gap between them.

To her surprise, she immediately fell flat on her face, something having tripped her up. She looked down to notice a long flowing dress on her on top of her usual policewoman uniform.

She squeaked out, "You put me in a dress?!" His chuckles turned into laughter as Crescent ran out of the room. Ruby knew what she had to do now. She took the dress in her hands, Crescent somehow having jammed the dress' zipper so she couldn't exactly get out.

Knowing Crescent wouldn't stand a chance in a foot race against Ruby, Yang knew leaving Ruby to catch him on foot would be a sure fire thing. Nonetheless, she rushed forward, willing to provide whatever backup was necessary.

Part of her wished that Crescent would try to actually fight them rather than try to run from them. What caused her body to go from running to bolting was a scream from Ruby, almost like someone hit had her.

Anyone that knew Yang, knew that making her little sister cry or even yell was enough to set Yang off. It was something that Yang never outgrew, not that she felt she had to.

At the first turn, she saw Ruby in her uniform on the floor, her hands on her head. Yang quickly rushed to her side and offered a hand, "Come on Rubes, did Crescent knock you down?"

Ruby nodded and pointed to the stairs, "I saw Crescent running up the stairs! He knocked me down as I came in, he has the Dragon's Claw! He also knocked out everyone including Pyrrha so we can't expect her to come help too much!

Yang went up the stairs briskly, her gut telling her something was wrong. She couldn't place the feeling to what exactly was wrong but her body was telling her something was off.

She turned back to see a certain silver eyed sister, looking ahead of themselves. That was when she turned skeptical. Ruby was in her usual police officer uniform, but that was weird in itself. She was missing a vital part of her "uniform".

"Ruby, what happened to your scarf?" Ruby looked down onto herself and and gasped, her eyes turning wide.

"Where is it?!" Yang could see the fear in her eyes, she hadn't been aware of the lacking scarf. All of Yang's sisterly thoughts came to the front of her mind, the doubts about Ruby slipping away, "Do you think that Crescent must have taken it when he bumped into you?"

Ruby looked up at her "sister", Yang immediately hugging her. That was until a single voice came over the radio, "Yang!"

Her lilac eyes widened as Ruby's voice came from the radio, but not from the girl in front of her.

"Yang! If you can hear me, Crescent put a dress on me and ran away! I'm heading to the roof to confirm something! If he pulls something like the Halloween party be prepared!"

The Ruby in front of her had already slipped away a good amount before Yang's brain could even soak in the information that was given to her. The Ruby in front of her had a sheepish smile, as if trying to convince her the voice was wrong, but ultimately failing, "Of course, you guys would actually talk to one another."

Her voice cracked and dropped back to Crescent's own voice, still coming out of a Ruby looking body.

"That's good for you guys, though."

Yang's eyes turned red as she glared at the Ruby. With a puff of smoke, the police officer uniform vanished to be replaced with what Yang would refer to as "Crescent Rose". Crescent didn't bother removing the mask, so now it looked like Ruby was cosplaying as Crescent.

Yang looked at Crescent Rose with a raised eyebrow. "We know what you look like, you know."

Ruby's own voice filtered back in a stunningly accurate rendition of Ruby's voice, "You know, sometimes you need to let a woman keep SOME secrets!"

Yang almost snickered, "Like the fact that you're a man?"

Crescent Rose shrugged. "Something like that." In another puff of smoke, the thief vanished from her sight.

"I really got to stop letting him use those stupid things." With a heavy sigh, she moved to meet up with the actual Ruby on the roof.

Meanwhile Ruby had made it to the top of the stairs and saw a giant black balloon tied to the roof. While it seemed to match with the hotel and even looked like it belonged, Ruby knew the roof never had the balloon.

Her "penpal" would have told her if it did, having sent her emails about her trips with her family when she managed to "escape" from Atlas.

Without wasting time, Ruby looked at the ropes that held the balloon to the roof and immediately noticed it wasn't secured, just loosely tied.

"Anyone could undo this…" That's when the idea hit her, "It's supposed to be loose. It's Crescent's escape plan!"

WIth a smirk that could rival Crescent's, she took out her swiss army knife and started to cut the rope from the anchor that held it in place. She hurriedly cut the rope, leaving the anchor with rope. Her plan worked to perfection.

Except when in its rise to the sky, the leftover rope around her feet snapped around her right leg and decided she needed to see the sky too. The giant balloon lifted both itself and poor Ruby into the sky, giving the young woman almost no time to react.

All she could see was the city's skylights and the crowd of people that had gathered around the hotel in order to see the stupid magician responsible for her problems. To make matters worse, or better, depending on how you look at it, a certain waterfall of blonde made its way onto to roof and was now watching as the young redhead was flying.

"RUBY!" screamed Yang, unsure what to do.

Helicopters would take too long and she didn't exactly had a way to fly on her own. Yang's fury only seemed to heighten as she could hear a man's voice behind her, "You don't see that every day."

Her eyes flashing red, she grabbed Crescent's suit and held him, her eyes offering pain as she stared him down. Crescent didn't even seem to be phased as he studied Ruby's flight, rather than the woman about to rain hell on him.

"She's got about a minute up there, so…"

He seemed to pause for added effect Yang would guess, "How much do you trust me?"

Yang quipped, "About as far as I can throw you."

Crescent only chuckled, "Then I think I'm about to get a whole lot lighter to you." Yang let him go, her sight immediately looking over to Ruby.

"You save her and I'll let you go for tonight." Crescent walked towards the railing of the building's roof, except he was getting away from where Ruby was.

"You say that like I wouldn't have made my way to freedom alone." Yang noticed that the balloon decided now was the perfect time for Ruby to learn skydiving as she started to freefall to the floor.

"Now prepare yourself, cause I know this will go off with a Yang!" Crescent all but screamed at the top of his lungs.

Throwing smoke bombs onto the railing closest to Ruby's direction, heads from the crowd looked up at the screaming Ruby seeing the young woman falling. Gasps could be heard from the crowd as the bright pink dress notified the crowd of Ruby's location.

From the smoke that erupted from the building, came the tell tale sign of the Magician, his white suit contrasting against the black of everything else. He dived after Ruby who managed to notice Crescent was slowly closing the distance between them.

Ruby's silver eyes peered into ocean blue eyes and with that, his eyes as confident as when he was stealing the jewels. As much as she didn't like it, she had to trust Crescent, he was the only thing that could possibly save her right now. The crowd looked in amazement as the thief was rapidly reaching the floor, but also the falling girl.

The crowd fell to a hush, intently watching the falling two. Crescent reached out to Ruby, their hands locking onto one another. As fast as he could, Crescent pulled Ruby to his chest, his hand already on the buckle of his belt. Ruby heard a button click and the whipping wind that had been surrounding her vanished, now she felt weightless.

The crowd started to cheer as the Phantom Thief glided over them, a safe Ruby cradled in his arms. With a sudden pain in her hand and a groan from the crowd, Ruby realized just how close she had come to the pavement.

Crescent pulled them up, using the momentum of the drop. Separating them from the ground, Crescent turned to the crowd, his face in that eternal smile of his.

"GOODNIGHT VALE!" His voice carried over, and the crowd replied with their own shouts.

WIth yet another puff of smoke, Ruby felt something drape over them and the sudden pull, taking her into the alleyways of the nearby areas. Within seconds, they both had landed on another roof of the city, Crescent quickly letting go of his "catch".

The black covering that held them both seemed to all but vanish just as quickly as it had been sprung on her. Ruby quickly gathered her bearings as her feet were now safely squared.

She glanced at Crescent as he was staring into the gem, using the moonlight as a source of light.

"Well that was fun right?"

Ruby replied instantly, "Maybe for you." Crescent laughed, this time his laugh seemed genuine.

"Tell you what, I'll give you back the gem and you let me go. We both win. VPD gets to protect the precious gem and I got to indulge in my game! Sound fair?"

Everything in Ruby's mind yelled, 'RED FLAG!'

"What are you after Crescent?"

He turned his back, sarcastically indulging her, "Oh right, the thief telling you what they want? So you can what? Take whatever I say I want and lock it down as best as you can so I can never get it? Forgive me if I'm not so forthcoming with that information."

Ruby shrugged, acknowledging his point.

With a few steps forward, he stood on the edge of the roof. "I will tell you this, I am planning a vacation, so I'll be leaving Vale for a while. I need to visit Menagerie for a bit. I need to pick something up. Who knows, maybe I'll see you there?"

With a nod to the officer Crescent threw the gem back at her. Rushing to quickly catch the gem, she heard Crescent's last words as the magician took to the skies once more.

"See you next illusion."

**A/N: Feel free to let me know what you think of the story. This story may have irregular updating times, but as soon as I finish another chapter, I'll put it up.**

**Side note: I may in fact do another story apart from the ones posted on my profile called "The Rising of the Arc Hero" (take a wild guess what's its based on lol) Let me know if you guys want me to try it or to keep myself only on Phantom Thief Crescent. Thanks for reading, I appreciate it! **


	6. Magic and Flight

Taking off from the airship docks was a luxury-type bullhead aircraft, one of the only ones going to Menagerie. While it was an unneeded expense, the blonde knew he needed to get there one way or another. His friends were willing to help, like always, and that made him glad.

What he didn't expect was for the aircraft to have "rooms". While the gray walls weren't much to look at, apart from the fact that the whole thing was bare anyways, the couches on both sides of the rather large table were certainly comfortable. The best part of this "room" was that it was soundproofed and with only one entrance to the room, anything discussed inside was kept to those in the room. Ren had really thought of everything, well almost everything.

Jaune could only groan as his face was buried in the couch of their bullhead, in mid flight. It was only with that bit of luck that they were able to get one of the last rooms in the airship. No one had to see what the great Phantom Thief Crescent was like on an airship. It wasn't like anyone would believe Jaune Arc was Crescent anyways.

Ren was silently laughing, the blonde could tell. "You know Jaune, I don't know where that confidence goes when you step off your "stage". Ever since middle school, your confidence only works when you perform. It seems almost poetic, in a way. Still, overconfidence can also hinder you."

Jaune looked at his friend, slowly willing the herbal medicine Ren passed him to work, "I realize that Ren! I made the worst Yang pun and then gave the stupidest line to Ruby! Do you realize how cheesy that was?! Worst of all, I did it with a smile on my face thanks to dad's stupid "poker face" rule!"

Nora looked at her childhood friend and laughed as she struck her favorite Crescent imitation pose with one hand on her hip and her other hand holding onto an imaginary hat , "What was the line again? See you next illusion?!"

Ren's slight smile was all the warning he got from the man as he continued, "I think the pun was something Yang would be proud of, Jaune. You need to give yourself some credit. I would keep that illusion line though, it's weird but it's still a good farewell."

Jaune's head was raised as he tried shooting daggers at his friend, "I will never start anything with a _Yang_, Ren. The day I do is the day is when all hell breaks loose." While his words could be taken harshly, Jaune's queasy voice showed there wasn't any heat behind the words, just playful banter between the two. His face immediately went back into the couch, taking his entire seat, while the "lovely" couple was comfortably sitting on their own couch across from him.

While they sat, Ren was making sure that Nora was using her boundless energy on the repairs they needed for Crescent's suit. She was a genius with mechanics, the only problem being she tended to go more destructive with her inventions. Both Jaune and Ren still remember that one time she thought building houses would be much easier with a rocket powered hammer. Granted it was certainly better at pummeling the ground to flatten the ground for the foundations, but neither of the boys thought it was a good idea to encourage that hammer's use. That hammer was just too big to be used.

Meanwhile Ren was keeping himself busy with his crossword puzzles. Once enough of the nausea calmed down, Jaune picked himself up and took out his deck of cards, shuffling them idly while he looked outside the window. It was nothing, but blue seas and bluer skies, but the sight was beautiful on its own.

Not wanting to have to deal with more stomach issues, he turned his attention to the married couple when an issue they had came forward once more. "Ren? How is the donation run coming? You guys raising enough?"

Ren's face went from stoic to slightly dejected, "We have made progress… but nowhere near enough. We're lucky to have a branch in Menagerie, otherwise this trip would be much more expensive. Mistral and Vacuo have also agreed to host the Lotus Charity."

Nora wrapped an arm around him, and pulled him close to her, "Don't worry Renny, we'll find a way. You know I'm planning to start a small craft store to help raise funds."

Ren nodded towards his friends and hugged his wife back. Meanwhile Jaune took the costume Nora had been fixing and looked at it. "I appreciate your help with my goal, Ren, I just wish there was a way I could help you too."

Ren nodded, knowing his friend's heart was in the right place, "You make no money in stealing. You give back everything." Jaune's smile warmed their heart's, "I know, if I could ransom those gems back instead, you know I would do it in a heartbeat to fund your charity."

With a quick flick of his cape and hands, Jaune Arc had vanished and in his place stood Crescent. He put on the hat and all, his face full of confidence and flair. He felt himself up, taking into account what he had. "Smoke bombs, check. Magic gun, check. Glider?" With a swift touch of his belt, his cape turned into his signature glider, complete with the twin arcs that embolden his cards. He kept checking the rest of his gear, ensuring that everything would function perfectly. The last thing he needed was a faulty suit in the middle of a theft.

"Check and check. I must say Nora, you really outdid yourself with the improvements!" Nora giggled as she struck her pose again, "Say it! Say the line!" Crescent laughed, grabbed all the confidence the suit seemed to give him and winked at his friends, "Try to catch me in the act Vale Police! There's nothing I can't steal, but for now? See you next illusion!"

Nora laughed heartily and Ren smiled. Crescent tossed the hat back onto the table and with a cloth, somehow took off his suit, replaced by his usual blue jeans and his bunny hoodie.

Nora quickly put away the suit, making sure that Jaune wouldn't mess her suit up, like the first time he tried it on. The door opened, revealing a familiar redhead, her emerald eyes scanning the room, a look of embarrassment quickly coming over her. Her face turned red. "I'm sorry!" she squeaked out, looking at all three of the occupants, then out of that same embarrassment, turned to the hat.

The snow white hat with a golden ribbon tied to it. A very familiar hat to the red head. Her embarrassment died out as curiosity seemed to take over. "Where did you guys get that replica?" Pyrrha asked nervously. All three heads turned to the hat, their own redhead blurting out, "I made it!"

Emerald orbs focused on turquoise, as she stepped in and grabbed the hat, examining it as she went. The hat was flipped over as Pyrrha scanned the entire thing. "This is very well made Nora…It seems so familiar."

Jaune's eyes met with Ren's silently asking what to do. His eyes only saw a lost man, trying to figure the situation out for himself. Collecting himself Jaune handed her one of Ren's charity cards, slightly taking her eyes away from the hat. "Hello there, name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it."

Pyrrha took a look at the blonde. _'He's cute. No Pyrrha not now! Hat!'_ She shook her head, returning to her examination of the offending hat.

Jaune was left wide eyed, _'Damn it, usually that would get some reaction. I need to buy them more time.' _

Nora spoke softly, unsure of what to do, but moving forward. She could read the room, not exactly know how to defuse it, but hoping for the best. "I made that for a customer!" Pyrrha looked up from the hat quickly, her eyes focused back on the girl. "Customer?"

Nora nodded, knowing she was in over her head, until Ren spoke up sounding much more confident than Nora. "Yes, Nora started a crafting business to make some more money for our charity! Someone had asked for a Crescent costume and right now we're adding the last touches on the hat while we are flying to Menagerie for another charity event!"

Pyrrha's eyes moved over back to the hat as she finished examining it closely and nodding, "I must say, that's a really good imitation." All three of them nodded as the door let another girl in, this time Ruby made her way inside, "Pyrrha?"

The officer turned to see one of her partners while unbeknownst to her, Nora had put away the hat, her easy smile coming back as the third officer came into their "room". "Wasn't this room supposed to be empty?" All four of them watched as Ruby pulled out her ticket, double checking the room number to ensure that they had the right place.

Ren then looked at their tickets, confirming that they were in the right place themselves. Ruby revealed theirs to them, showing the same room number. Yang groaned as she examined the room, the only thing breaking up the gray was the single window in the room.

"I guess we're all packed in here like sardines huh? Anyone got anything to do for the next hour or so?"

Jaune motioned for the girls to take the now empty couch, now that it stood without him. Ren scooted himself out of their couch and walked himself to the door, "I'll go see what I can do about the rooms. Jaune, why don't you entertain them with your magic act?"

Jaune knew he needed to get him back for throwing him to the wolves like that. Immediately Ruby's silver eyes shot in his direction, "You can do magic?" Jaune shrugged, "Kinda, it's mostly card tricks."

Ruby seemed more like a child than he had ever seen her before, "That's okay! I love magic, when its not used for evil…"

Yang smiled and Pyrrha nodded in agreement, which prompted Nora to ask. She knew the answer of course, but at the same time they didn't know that she knew. "What kind of magic shows are you three going to?"

Yang covered Ruby's mouth before she exploded with her "righteous" rage. Both girls had already let Ruby get it out of her system the night of the heist, but they didn't exactly need an encore of that.

"Remember that Crescent guy? He is one hell of a magician. Don't get me wrong, he's a criminal, but he's not just average criminal. He plans things out and makes his heists actual challenges. Just in this last one, he knocked Pyrrha out so our leader was shot down, then split Rubes and I up, put Ruby in a dress that didn't let her run right, and managed to save Ruby when she tried to copy Crescent's flying style. Trust me, this guy is good! It'll be that much sweeter when we bring this guy down!"

Jaune's mouth was left open, he knew he was trying to get the gems, but hearing the Officer Xiao-Long speak so positively about him wasn't something he was used to.

"Even though Ruby's flight was his fault. He gets extra "cool" points from me for using a pun before he escaped." Jaune had to stop himself from physically facepalming.

Ruby sighed and managed to uncover her own mouth, "He made a pun with you? He gave me a cheesy line!" She tried to make her voice deeper, but failing. "See you next illusion!"

Jaune laughed, knowing how bad it truly was. Ruby took it as fuel and continued, "He had the most confident face about it too!" He couldn't believe the girls were taking that seriously!

That's when Yang noticed, "Uhm, who's the blonde?" Nora smiled and jumped up, almost bouncing out of her seat. "This is our friend Jaune-Jaune! We've been friends since we were kids! Almost as long as Renny and I!" Yang smiled politely, still not used to Nora's explosiveness.

Apart from Nora, Pyrrha had noticed Jaune's hands working on the cards as he watched the girls talk to one another. She sought out to include the only man in the room. "Why don't you show us some of those card tricks while we wait for Ren to finish sorting this out?" Jaune turned his cheesy grin to Pyrrha and nodded happily, "Sure! Anytime I get to practice my magic is a good time to me!"

Pyrrha seemed to smile back, but it wasn't politely, more like a natural smile. His hands turned the deck apart and them put it back together again, his eyes wandering over the three officers, "Who wants to go first for my assistant?"

Ruby's hand shot straight up. She looked positively excited to be anywhere near the magic.

'_Huh… when she's not on duty, she's child-like.'_ Jaune held out the deck before her.

"Pick a card and then memorize it." Yang watched "the show", her eyes looking bored. Ruby picked one and showed it to Yang, her eyes barely registering Ruby's 2 of hearts. _'At least Ruby is having fun.'_

As Jaune shuffled the rest of the cards, splitting the deck into two halves and letting her pick which side she wanted to put her card in. When Ruby added her card on top of one of the halves, Jaune put them together again. "Now I'm going to need two helpers here." Turning the deck over, he took out a pair of 6's then set the deck right. One of the 6's was placed over the deck while the second was placed under the cards. Jaune grabbed the top of bottom cards and threw the deck out of his hand, onto his open hand. Ruby's eyes focused on the cards that remained. With only three cards in his hand, he revealed one of the 6's that he pulled out earlier. When he peeled the card that was on the bottom of the deck he revealed the other helper he had gotten. When he turned the only card left in his hand, the 2 of hearts staring back at them.

Yang yawned, her expression bored, "Wooo, you can do child tricks." Ruby glared at Yang. Jaune turned his attention to Yang, "Want to take part? I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Yang scoffed, "Don't want to, but your lucky we have nothing better to do."

With a quick shuffle, Yang picked a card from the pile and stared at it.

'_A queen of hearts, huh?' _

Jaune took the card, slowly putting it back into the pile without looking at the card. While he shuffled the cards, Pyrrha watched him cautiously.

She turned her eyes between Jaune and Nora, "You really seem to love magic huh?" With a nod, the blonde laughed, "Of course! It lets me do this!" Without a warning, he threw all the cards onto the window of the bullhead. All of their attention shot to the window of the airplane, only one stuck to the window.

"TA-DA!" Yang burst out laughing, "Looks like you were dealt a bad _hand_, huh?"

Her laughter filled the room as she removed the 7 of spades from the window and threw it back to Jaune. "Nice try though." Pyrrha's mouth was open wide Ruby's silver eyes were as big as dinner plates. Yang noticed her friends faces, staring at her? They were looking in her direction, but not at her.

With a small guiding hand by Ruby, Yang's attention was turned to the red queen of hearts that was on the window, flapping dangerously close to flying away. Her fingers immediately went to pick up the card, only to realize the card wasn't in the aircraft with them, it was stuck on the outside of the bull head. When their heads turned back to Jaune, he was shuffling another deck of cards.

Ruby was basically jumping with excitement, "That was awesome Jaune! How did you do it?!"

Jaune laughed and shook his head, "A magician can never reveal their secrets. For my next trick, I'll read your mind." His fingers pointed at Pyrrha, his shuffling only stopped momentarily to point. He then took a pen and wrote down something on the paper, showing it to Nora.

Her eyes lit up, quickly balling up the paper and throwing it away. Jaune spread the cards out for Pyrrha to choose one, letting her pick. When she picked out her own card, Jaune let her put the card back into the deck and held the deck up to his own forehead, making sure to "read" the cards.

"I thought you would read Pyrrha's mind not the cards?" pressured Yang. Ruby immediately cut in, "Shhh, you're ruining the magic!" Yang ruffled Ruby's hair, knowing she was totally into this.

Nora could tell he had his Crescent face on, his mind only focused on his craft at this point. It was this side of him that no one really saw up until he started performing. HIs smile started to creep onto his face, slowly becoming the infamous Crescent smirk. With a poke to his cheek, Jaune got the message and reset his face into his poker face, hoping the girls didn't notice the smile.

He began to drop the cards from his hands, until all of them were on the floor. He just shrugged, his hand reaching his own wallet. The action confused all of them, except Nora. When he opened it, the pocket usually holding one's own license or I.D had a 4 of clubs. "Does this look familiar?"

Pyrrha gasped as she looked at the card, "That was amazing, you're amazing with magic!" Nora snickered, "Oh dust, down to a tee!" All the attention was focused on her. "What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby asked, her eyes slowly going to the paper Nora had thrown earlier, a realization setting in. She grabbed the paper and unwrinkled it revealing the words Jaune had written on it:

"That was amazing, you're amazing with magic!"

"Even down to the second amazing!" Ruby squealed. Yang took the paper out of her hands and looked at it herself. Pyrrha nodded as she looked at the note, stunningly silent from the trick. Pyrrha knew that he was a good magician, hopefully one that she could consult in case she needed help against Crescent. After all, a magician would know how another magician would think right?

"Can I have your scroll number Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. Yang's eyes immediately sprung alive, her body seemingly revitalized. She knew she had just gotten a target for her favorite pastime -teasing. "Damn P-Money! A bit of magic gets your engine going huh?!"

Pyrrha's shook her head, quickly noting what Yang meant, her face as red as her hair, "No, not like that! Jaune is a talented magician! It would be helpful to us to have someone that can understand magic like him if we want to catch Crescent!" Jaune and Nora just laughed at the girl's antics.

'_Oh trust me, Jaune-Jaune can certainly think like Crescent,' _thought Nora.

Jaune handed Pyrrha his scroll, "Just add your number and I'll send you a message. If I don't reply right away, it's because I'm helping out with Ren's charity events okay?

Yang continued her assault, "Don't worry magic boy, she'll text you late at night. That's when you need him right?" Both Pyrrha and Jaune turned red.

Pyrrha quickly typed her number, sending herself a small message. When her scroll beeped, she saved the number for Jaune.

Ren appeared at the door, calmly sitting down inside with them. "Hello everyone. Looks like they're going to let the girls go to the next room over, since we already settled down here."

The girls nodded, taking their belongings with them. With a wave both Pyrrha and Ruby said their goodbyes while Yang smiled at them, her fun not ever yet. Upon closing the door, both Jaune and Nora let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.

Ren got comfy, his spot opening up again. "What happened?" Jaune shook his head, "Way too much… On the upside, I learned a bit from the girls. Yang prefers a challenge more than anything, Pyrrha is adaptable, and Ruby is excitable but child-like."

Ren's eyebrow raised, "What does that mean?" Jaune sighed as he picked up cards from the floor, "Means I can't just run in and hope for the best. They'll be sure to pick up I'm winging half this stuff sooner or later. That and I can't use my own face for Crescent. On the upside, Nora figured out what she'll be selling on that shop of yours, right?"

Nora beamed and nodded, "Now I have to, but that's fine! Maybe we can use the costumes ourselves one day! We can all dress up as Crescent and cause all the distractions we need!" Jaune laughed, but never said no.

With a smile from the blonde, he gave Ren a thumbs up, "Looks like I have to get even more famous to sell more merchandise for you guys huh?"

Ren shook his head, a slight smile on his face, "You did want to help raise money for us. Somehow we got our chance to help each other."

Meanwhile with the girls, all three of them settled into their new room before Yang spoke up, "Anyone else think that Jaune guy looked familiar?" Ruby chimed in, "Wasn't he that guy that talked to Nora and Ren after us?" Pyrrha nodded, "That was him alright, seems he's taking charity to another level."

Ruby smiled, "That's so nice of them! Helping out when others need them! They're almost like heroes!" Yang got herself comfy, "Only you would love them because they're helping out. I swear, if you hadn't become an officer, you would be there with them trying to help out." Ruby lightly slapped Yang's knee, a pout on her face, "You say that like it's a bad thing!"

Pyrrha looked at the card that she was given. _'Blonde hair and blue eyes, likes doing magic, and during my trick he seemed to get this familiar happy smile. Where have I seen that smile before? He's starting to sound kinda like Crescent, but I'm not too sure…'_

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I know I said we would be in Menagerie by now, but I wanted to show Jaune and his team. Ren and Nora weren't introduced just cause! Apart from that we have a bit of Arkos maybe? Next chapter for sure, we'll see Menagerie and meet the Belladonnas! **


	7. New Place, Same Job

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back!**

Pyrrha and the girls got off the plane, having barely arrived at Menagerie. Waiting for them were three cat faunus, two of them were eager to see them, while one of them was quietly reading a book behind the other two.

As they got off, a streak of orange passed them, dragging a streak of black and blonde behind her. All three of them ran into the city, another blonde waving for them. Pyrrha noted that the other blonde was muscular and was in no way hiding the fact his body. His button down shirt was open leaving little to the imagination and it wasn't until the orange streak got to him that he even moved.

With her team getting off the plane, one of the two raven haired women ran up to them and hugged them all. She wore a black hakama, covering her legs, her body being dressed with a black shrug, with a white layer under it, her black hair cut short and her ears, while obvious, also had three earrings on one of them. Her amber eyes were filled with warmth and she had an aura of motherly comfort around her.

Meanwhile the giant of a man behind her wore only his brown pants, a pair of black boots and a purple coat that gave the man a sense of regalness. He watched as the motherly of the three moved forward, a slight smile on his lips.

Lastly, the girl behind them wore a simple black top, her own black pants with sneakers of all things. Yang would assume that wearing black in a place where the sun seemed eternal was suicide, but she lived here so she had to know something the new visitors didn't right? While the two elders of the three moved forward to greet them, the younger of them stayed back, fully intent to keep reading her book.

Pyrrha was the first one to talk to any of them, "Ghira and Kali? I am Pyrrha Nikos, and my team Yang Xiao-Long and Ruby Rose. Pleased to meet your acquaintance!" Kali smiled and pinched her cheek, "Oh you are so cute! You remind me of your father Alex! Right down to the bright red hair! Doesn't she Ghira?"

The giant of a man merely nodded, knowing how his wife would get. She quickly jumped onto Yang, "By the gods, your such a beauty! Such beautiful blonde hair and it looks like someone doesn't skip training day huh?" Yang smiled and nodded, flexing her own muscles, "About time someone noticed!"

Kali laughed as she turned her gaze to Ruby. "Summer? You're escorting the team? Ghira! It's Summer!" Ruby could only blush, her resemblance to her own mother had been very well documented for the young Rose. Kali's smile grew even bigger, "I'm kidding with you sweetie, I know Summer is your mother Ruby."

Ghira pulled his wife away from the team, his own face still as stoic as ever. "Welcome girls, I am Ghira Belladonna, and this is my wife Kali Belladonna." His head looked back to the bookish girl, still reading, and continued, "And that is my daughter Blake Belladonna."

Blake's amber eyes peered over her book and with a subtle nod, welcomed the girls. Kali hugged all of them and pointed them to the biggest house nearby, "You're welcome to stay in our house since you are to stay and protect Gambol Shroud. After all, that Crescent fellow should only be in the city for a bit correct?"

Pyrrha shrugged, "We believe so, he doesn't tend to stay in the same place for long." This time Blake spoke up, "You all have managed to successfully keep jewels away from him in the last heists correct?"

Ruby nodded slowly, "He's really crafty and uses magic to help himself get away." Blake's eyes darted to the scarf cloaked girl, "He uses magic? Like the actual magical arts?" Yang shrugged and waved her hand in a so-so motion, "It's more like stage magic? Like a birthday party magician. You know, smoke and mirror type stuff."

Blake shook her head, "Ah so fake magic, got it."

Ruby gasped, seemingly coming to Crescent's defense? "He's very good at it!" While Yang and Ruby tried to get Blake to understand, Pyrrha looked out to the new location of Kuo Kuana. Even though the city clearly had an airport, the city looked more to be one of a port town. Near the docks and the airport was a small local market, host to several stalls selling a variety of things. It looked to be more like a vacation town than anything else.

Beyond the market of the town, the city was filled with plant life, the island seeming more forest than town. Even though many claimed it was a city, to Pyrrha it seemed like it was more of a town. The houses were made of wood, but still sturdy, the strangest thing was the different styles. Some looked like standard houses, but some homes looked more akin to cabins. It was charming in its own right, the city being a great place to settle down in.

Looking it over as Pyrrha Nikos, officer she noticed that the houses were certainly well spaced out and nothing very tall, meaning Crescent wouldn't have the chance to use his hang glider to escape, making it easier for them in the long run. The open roads also meant his white cape would stick out, especially at night. In order to make a clean getaway, he would probably need some sort of vehicle to get in and out of the road fast. It was only when the other girls bumped into her that Pyrrha snapped out of her "analysis".

"Magicians shouldn't be a problem for three police officers, yet how is he still coming here?" Blake questioned. Yang was quick to shoot back, "He's not your normal criminal, that's for sure. Besides have you faced a Phantom Thief before? They're not exactly small fries."

Blake opened her book once more, seemingly going back into it. The only thing she said before moving towards Ghira and Kali was, "Kuo Kuana had it's own Phantom Thief, by the name of the Black Cat. We managed to catch her, so your Phantom Thief shouldn't pose much trouble to us." Ruby shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe it would be best then! If you guys can help, that would be appreciated!"

Not knowing how to reply to the young officer, her legs moved her away. The three girls were guided to the Belladonna household, only to find a small amount of people waiting in front of the house. A certain trio familiar to the girls knew were standing outside waiting for them with that blonde monkey boy that they had dashed out to meet. "Sun? What happened?" asked Ghira.

Sun looked at them sheepishly, "Well, you still need to approve the permits for the building of houses that these people came for. I may or may not have forgotten to give them to you." He held out a stack of papers to Ghira, who took a deep breath and sighing heavily.

Blake looked up from her book, a slight smirk on her face, "Menagerie's finest at work." Sun's attention turned to Blake, "You're just mad that you have to chaperone our guests from Vale, while we get to hang out in town, huh partner?"

Blake's response was to put up the book once more, "You wanted Kuo Kuana to help, that means you too Sun." she deadpanned. Ghira took the papers and walked into his house, followed by both parties. It didn't take long for Nora to start waving at the officers, "What are you guys up to here in Menagerie?"

Ruby was the one that responded, "We are here to stop Gambol Shroud from being stolen!" Ren looked around the house, Jaune following him around. They almost seemed happy Nora was distracted. The blonde turned to Yang, "You guys think these guys need the extra help?"

He was met with a small shrug, "To be honest, this is the first time we help out another place. Gods know what Crescent is planning."

Jaune went back to looking around the place, "Maybe he's just enjoying his time off?" Yang and Pyrrha seemed to want to laugh at the "crazy" notion of a Phantom Thief relaxing. He didn't know whether or not to be offended.

Entering into a large meeting room, Ghira set the papers down and started to look over them. Being the chieftain of Menagerie, he was more than just a leader, he was the island's ruler and as such had to oversee almost every little thing. Thankfully he had help, but that help only extended oh so much.

While Ghira and the guests were busy, Blake focused her attention on other details. She looked at the familiar room, the walls and floor made of strong wood, with bookshelves littering the walls and more books than one would ever expect. On the second floor of the meeting room was more akin to a library, seeing how much of the space was consumed with more bookshelves and books focused on several genres.

Her mind could think back to the early days of her own childhood, the room before her was bare, and the space always seemed to lack a certain charm. Nowadays, the only time someone would enter was to knock the dust off the multitude of furniture, her father's meetings always ending too quick for anyone's taste.

Ironically, it was the absolute trust that the people of Kuo Kuana had in him that was showcased in those affairs. It was further proven by the acceptance of the team from Vale in protecting what was essentially a family heirloom. Even if they had the team from Vale, she wouldn't allow that Crescent to steal the jewel. It was only a few moments of time, but the blonde that Sun was escorting was taking pictures with his scroll.

While normally no one would, something in her gut was telling Blake that she needed to stop him. She placed one hand on his shoulder, slightly pulling him to face her. He seemed genuinely shocked that Blake had done a thing, his face gaining a slight twinge of redness. Embarrassment, she hoped it was.

"Sorry, am I not allowed to take pictures?" Blake shook her head slightly, "Maybe next time, ask before you do so?" The blond nodded and put the scroll back into his own pocket, before sticking his hand out to the raven haired girl, "Sorry about that. I'm Jaune Arc, what's your name?"

Blake cautiously took his hand and shook it, not liking his friendliness, "Blake Belladonna." His eyes lit up, "You mean like Ghira and Kali Belladonna?" Blake's ears twitched, her expression still focused on the boy. She didn't even speak, all she could do was nod quietly. Both his hands engulfed her hand, vigorously shaking her own hand, the pools of blue he had somehow shone brighter than before.

"I want to thank you and your family for helping my friends and I. I come from the Lotus Charity, along with my friends Nora and Ren! It's not everyday you get to meet such important people!"

Her eyes scanned the room, noticing no one else's attention was drawn to them. He started to go on about how he admired the work Ghira had done for the faunus and how they had inspired Ren to help make their own charity organization. Blake nodded and smiled, Ren calling the blonde away after they had gotten the permissions they needed to help out in building houses and something about broadcasting a fitness course for the charity itself?

All of them excusing themselves, the raven haired woman was left with her police group, the three of them now surrounding the object of everyone's current attention, Gambol Shroud. "It's beautiful" said Ruby.

"Its breath-taking," agreed Pyrrha. Yang didn't speak, only looking at the jewel. Kali filled the silence with her own words, "We'll leave the protection of it to you and Blake, she's more than capable of holding her own against anyone. Go ahead and take today to get to know one another, according to Crescent's note he'll be here tomorrow at 8. According to Alexander, he's very punctual, but I wouldn't put it past him to "arrive" early to check out the area. We'll have guards posted around the room, but inside the room will be all you girls. We'll be counting on you."

With that Kali and Ghira left the room, leaving the girls alone with one another. Not wanting to waste a moment, Blake closed her book and examined the three girls, "Why not start by sharing information on this Crescent guy? What should I be looking out for? Habits? Personality?"

The three girls nodded, Yang was the first to speak up, "He's cocky as hell. The man sees himself as an actual phantom, just coming in and out like he owns the place." Ruby kept going, "He's very forward, sometimes even flirty?"

Yang looked at Ruby, "He flirted with you?!"

Ruby shook her head, "More like he makes dirty innuendos." That turn of phrase did little to help Yang. Pyrrha nodded, "He sees his heists as little more than a game. Yet somehow wants us to follow a set of rules."

Blake took in all the information, piecing together a profile of the thief, much like she would for any other criminal. "He sees it as a game? But doesn't stack the odds in his favor or want you to do the same?"

Ruby nodded while Blake kept working, "He's either very confident in his skills or he truly does want to play a "fair" game with us… Anything else?" Pyrrha spoke up this time, "He uses magic tricks to help him escape."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Magic? That's not exactly a tactic. I doubt he uses actual magic to help him escape. I'll believe that when I see it. What else?"

"Crescent seems to like messing with us and leaving in a spectacular fashion.'' "A glory hog, the mission isn't worth doing if no one sees you doing it. Strange… that's the antithesis of a good thief."

Ruby nods, "Also he's given back whatever he's stolen." Blake's eyes widened, "What?" Yang nodded, "Yeah, he's given back everything. He found out the circlet was a fake and it found its way back to us, when he tried stealing the Dragon's Claw, he gave it to Ruby to "buy" his escape."

Blake nodded, nothing making sense about the thief to her. "How do you guys fight him?" Pyrrha answered that one, "We try our best to catch him, usually we split up in odd numbers and have someone back the other ones up. It doesn't matter what he throws at us, as long as we can manage to stop him, then we're doing our jobs. As long as the jewels weren't in his hands, he'll be back."

Blake nodded, following the logic, "Any other help you guys have at your disposal?" Yang's smile grew instantly, "Well we have Pyrrha's boyfriend!"

The red-head turned as red as her hair as she screamed at Yang, "It's not like that!" Blake's raised eyebrow was all Yang needed to keep going. "You know that blonde guy that you were talking to earlier?" Blake nodded, "Jaune Arc? Sure, I remember him."

"That's him! Pyrrha got his scroll number while on the bullhead over here! She works pretty fast!" Blake's eyes turned to the embarrassed party, "He's a magician! I figured that if anyone could deduce the movements or mannerism of a magician, it would be another magician!"

"Isn't sharing magician's secrets against their code? Why would he tell you anything about pulling off magic tricks when he's not supposed to?" It was obvious that thought had never crossed their minds.

Yang smile grew even more, "I wonder if he knew that and just decided to get a pretty girl's scroll number?" Ruby sighed, also once having had fallen to the embarrassment of her own sister, but still watching Pyrrha. Said girl was busy looking over her scroll trying to look over her new contact.

Blake shook her head, a small smirk forming at the antics of the team, "Also you three were very forthcoming with the information you shared. How do you know I'm not Crescent or working with him?"

Ruby took a quick glance at her, "The Belladonnas trusted us enough to give us this chance and even went to introduce you. That shows us that you trust us enough to leave a priceless jewel in our care, so it should be natural that we give you the same level of trust right?" Blake was taken apart with that, but nodded. They continued to talk and share stories until the night where the girls were escorted to their rooms for the night.

That night Blake woke up, hearing an unusual sound coming from the home. She quickly got dressed and started to listen for the strange sound. As she did, she went to the girl's room and found all three of them still asleep.

'_So it's not one of them… Sun reported to dad before he went home, so he's not here either.' _

With a silent step, she crept around her house, listening intently for anything else. It didn't take long before she could hear another sound, almost like it was being made intentionally. Slightly unnerved by the deduction, her mind started to worry about the jewel. Without a second thought, she rushed to the meeting room. She burst into the room, seeing a man in white sitting on the case of Gambol Shroud.

She wasted no time, "Who are you?!" With a wide smirk and a tip of his white hat, Crescent dropped from the case and bowed to the Belladona. "Hello Ms. Belladonna, I am Crescent. Hopefully I haven't come at a bad time?"

Blake reached for her gun on her waist, having collected it before she even left her room. That's when she heard Crescent, "I wouldn't do that if I was you." Looking up at him, she noticed a gun being pointed at her. It looked like a normal pistol, but in the limited light they had, it was all she could make out.

"What do you want thief?" growled Blake. Crescent laughed, his gun pointed up instead of at her, "I simply want to talk Blake, is that too much to ask for?"

Blake slowly stepped into the room, "How do you know my name?" Crescent put the gun away, on his back somehow, his eyes never leaving the enemy. "I asked the locals, you would be surprised how much you can get if you know how to deal."

"What do you want to know?"

Crescent's smile unnerved the faunus, after all he was in a house filled with police operatives and the man was strolling around like he was in his own home. "Would it be too much to ask if you would be willing to join our game?" The question felt like someone had dashed cold water on her. "What?!" Blake's voice practically shouted at the man.

'_How the hell is he this arrogant?!'_ That's when the girl's evaluations of him came back.

"He's cocky as hell."

"He seems to think of this as a game."

"He always gives back what he takes though."

The last one set her mind spinning once more, "What do you want with the Gambol Shroud?" Crescent walked around Blake, her body turning as he would simply move in a circle around her. Both never took their eyes off the other one.

"Gambol Shroud is a nice gem, would you believe me if I said I just need to check it?" Blake shook her head, "You can admire it from behind the glass. Why bother stealing it if you just return the gem?" A slight laugh emitted from Crescent's smirk, his voice turning somewhat nostalgic?

"I'm just a good person, doing all the wrong things for the best of reasons." As Blake took in this new information, it seemed to perfectly align with everything that the girls had mentioned, yet it sounded so foreign to her. "A thief with a heart of gold huh?"

'_Why would he tell me exactly what I ask for? There has to be some sort of double meaning? What would he gain from telling me the truth?!'_

The gears in her head turned as fast as she could manage, thinking of any possible reason for the thief, yet few arrived to a proper conclusion. She watched him continuously walk around her, his gaze not leaving her, but at the same time his eyes hid no falsehood. He truly thought he was doing a good deed in stealing the gems he decided. He had managed to convince himself that he was doing someone a favor by stealing priceless gems and jewels.

"If you wanted priceless gems, why not go to Atlas and steal from the Schnees? The mega-corporation has plenty of money and even more rare artifacts to steal for you "good" causes!" Crescent stopped completely, his head tilted, seemingly thinking of the possibilities. However his smirk returned once more as he walked to the meeting room table. "You know… I did always want to go skiing. Maybe I will make a stop there."

Blake's eyes widened slightly. _'He's actually going to try?! Against the Schnees?! Against the best security systems in the world?!'_ His calm voice approached her, even though he remained sitting. "How about you? Would you like to join me in Atlas? I hear the log cabin spaces are quite... cozy."

Her jaw dropped immediately. This thief was very bold. He made no sense whatsoever, but it was that mystery that interested her. A puzzle whose shapes seemed to clash, but somehow fit perfectly. It was exactly what she loves about her job. He made no sense, but to him everything made sense. An intellectual equal.

She could see why the other girls chased this man. He seemed to take an interest in the girls themselves like they would towards him. Before she could say another word a certain motherly voice cut through the darkness.

"My my, looks like I know Phantom Thieves pretty well don't I Crescent?" To his credit, he showed no surprise with the unannounced guest. With the same smirk and charm he had spoken to Blake, he regarded Kali. "What can I say? Such beauty can only be seen in a moonlit night wouldn't you agree?"

Kali raised an eyebrow, "Careful where you toss your honeyed words. One can always enjoy the beauty of Gambol Shroud in the darkness don't you think?"

Crescent nodded and walked to the middle of the room, "You do have a point, but if I may inform the young detective before us." The white clad magician took his eyes off Kali and with a familiar smile, targeted his words at Blake instead. "Sometimes the lies one can tell aren't as false as you may think. I suppose we'll see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully the team can handle me! After all, nothing is beyond my grasp!"

Within seconds, he was engulfed by a strong gust of wind. The tower of wind, went up to the roof, but only lasted a few seconds. Without a single trace, he was gone. Blake's eyes widened as she "saw" his escape.

'_That should be impossible!' _

She scoured the area where the thief once stood, the only sound in the room was her own mother's "Oh my…" Only a card remained where the thief once stood. Taking it into her hands, she noticed it was one of those cards that he would send out for his crimes. A simple white card with the twin arcs on the cards back, while a message for her stood in what could be deemed the front of the card.

"**A little birdie told me that you aren't one for magic Miss Belladonna. Let's see if tomorrow's show can change that."**

With a sigh, she looked at her own mother, who was staring back at her. "He's just like the first one. Always trying to charm his way out of situations, but somehow he's worse at it now. His escapes are more thought out though."

"How would you even know that? Unless…" A single thought flashed across her mind, her mind deciding to open that can of worms, "You worked with Crescent Mom?"

With a simple nod she continued, "Yes and no sweetie, why do you think we could get Vale's team to help us protect the gem? Alexander Nikos, Summer Rose, Qrow Branwen and I were the original team to chase the first Crescent. After a couple of attempts, I decided to leave the team to come help out in Menagerie. However, a friend from the force called in one last favor before I left. That favor helped me with your father, so it worked out for everyone!"

She looked down at her hands, a look of realization, "It's been a while since I had anything to do with that man…" Blake went to her mother's side, "Mom? Why didn't you tell me about your own fights with Crescent?" Kali smiled, "You always liked figuring out things for yourself sweetie, I figured if you needed help you would ask. Anything you need Blake, all I ask is you talk to me."

Without the proper words of gratitude for her mother, Blake wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly, Kali smiling from her daughter's rare showing of affection. Content with her mother's words and her promise to her Blake left the room, leaving Kali in the meeting room alone.

Kali Belladona smiled sweetly and opened a window in the meeting room, letting the warm tropic air waft into the room. With a deep breath, her nose took in the scent from the world around her, calming her. Turning off the lights of the meeting room, her body immediately went to the chairs around the meeting room table, letting herself rest shortly, her ears picking up Blake's own door closing in the distance.

With the same smile she looked to the ceiling, her eyes focused on the tiles and what was on them. "She's gone you know, you can use the window to leave." Silence was her response from the room. She giggled, knowing the truth. "I have all night Arc, or would that be too much to assume from you Crescent?"

This time she got her reply, "How did you know?" Kali rolled her eyes, "You're just like your father, Nicholas. He loved to showboat, but his tricks were plain when you knew what to look for. You at least make it somewhat distracting to see, so you managed to improve his escape strategies."

Kali knew it wasn't magic, but his sudden drop from the roof would have looked like it to anyone else. He landed with a soft thud as the white cloak with a black interior draped his back once more. "Come talk to me if you manage to get away with tomorrow's show okay? You're still looking for that gem aren't you? I may be able to help you with that search, somewhat."

Crescent nodded cautiously, unsure of where this conversation was going, his steps slowly backing him towards the open window in case Kali was about to spring a trap on him. Kali waved at him innocently, only rising to tuck the chair back under the table. With a single jump back, Crescent pulled out the gun once more and shot out the grappling hook it hid, pulling him away from the house and into the open air.

The following day, the Vale team gathered with Blake and Sun to go over the plan for the housing of Gambol Shroud. While the last day had been sunny and bright, it seemed that the weather seemed to want to give the police a hand. With rushing winds that were strong enough to push the various palm trees, even Crescent would have trouble with his glider. Somehow the winds only affected the city, the ocean around Kuo Kuana were unnaturally calm. The winds persisted even towards the night when the group met up for the briefing.

Pyrrha was the first one to speak up about the security, "Okay, tonight we will have some of Menagerie's officers to help with this. We will have several of them posted outside of all major doors, the house isn't that tall so we shouldn't expect an aerial entrance, and the day has given us a mercy. The city's high winds should make Crescent's air flight a pain. As for us, Blake and Sun will keep the west side clear, Ruby and Yang will keep the east side, and I'll fill in where needed. Keep talking to one another and we will make it through this!" Ruby and Yang nodded widely, while Sun was oddly pumped, "Tonight we catch this infamous thief!" he claimed.

The girls agreed, the plan being made. All of them checked the different rooms of the house, ensuring that no room was left unchecked. Over the radio, Blake told them the layout of the house, which helped the girls familiarize themselves with the rooms and make sure that no room was left from the sweep. Pyrrha, Blake, and Ruby kept an eye on the time, confirming with Crescent's note about the time he had picked. It was only seconds before the "game" would start and even though it was very unlikely Pyrrha kept her eyes on the sky, guarding against anything that magician would do. As nervous as she was, she had decided to use her secret weapon. She pulled out her phone to look over the messages that she had exchanged.

Pyrrha: Jaune, if you wanted to make an entrance during a show, where would you appear from?

Jaune: Oh wow, Yang wasn't kidding lol you really want help huh?

Jaune: I would prolly hit from above, after all the path of least resistance will always help you, so if no one expects you flying in then no one will watch for that dont you think?

Pyrrha didn't like the thought of using a civilian's help, but once she had already asked for it she couldn't just ignore his advice. Somehow that magician would break all expectations and arrive from the air.

Once the hour came, Pyrrha and Blake found their way into the meeting room, with Gambol Shroud placed in the middle, away from any and all windows or doors. With a quick scan of the room, nothing moved. The air was thick with anticipation, but at the same time nothing was happening.

The lack of motion somehow unnerved Blake, but her eyes shuffled between locations, hoping to spot any motions. Pyrrha walked around the room, her own suspicions rising with the inactivity. She checked the case holding Gambol Shroud, finding it locked and with no signs of tampering with the lock involved.

Ruby was the first thing that broke the silence in the meeting room, her voice coming in from the radio, "DId you guys see him?! Yang and I got nothing!" Pyrrha took up her radio, "Negative Ruby, he hasn't shown up. Keep an eye out for the sky, he may surprise us in the stupidest way possible."

Sun chimed in through his radio, "Hey guys, is it normal for people to crowd the building when Crescent arrives?" Yang answered him back, "As long as they stay outside then yeah, that's normal since people got a good look at him." Blake kept her eyes moving, even when addressing Pyrrha, "Your guy always this late?" The way Pyrrha took a sharp breath told Blake she misunderstood her at first. "Uhm… No. Crescent always shows up at the times he tells us."

"You trust him to show up on time?!"

Pyrrha shrugged, but nodded nonetheless, "He hasn't given us a reason to doubt him. Besides if he wanted to steal the gem without raising the alarm, why give us a warning then?" Blake was left speechless with just how weird it was that this single thief had managed to gain the trust of the other officers by doing everything that would prove to be his downfall.

That's when all the windows in the meeting room burst open, the winds of outside rushing in. With the winds, came an ungodly amount of cards flying in with the winds, killing all visibility in the room. All of them seemed to gather around the case, both girls immediately rushing to Gambol Shroud.

When Pyrrha knocked some of the cards off the display case, the gem was gone. In its place was a single card, unlike all the other ones he used. This card only had a hand drawn picture of the thief's face sticking his tongue out at them playfully. Blake scoffed at the card and muttered, "Asshole."

A soft tsk of another caught the girls attention as they looked up onto a certain blonde. With his white suit and white hat, Crescent sat on the second floor of the room, his body balanced on the balcony that prevented the fall of others. His hands rested on the railing, while his legs were crossed, dangling from the edge.

"Good evening ladies, I hope this was worth the wait?"

His body leaned forward and from his hat, he produced Gambol Shroud. Blake's eyes widened, "How did you pull this off?" Crescent's laugh was their response, "I'm sorry Miss Belladonna, but magicians should never reveal their secrets. If we do, then the magic truly disappears. That wouldn't be fun now would it?"

Pyrrha immediately got on the radio, "Crescent is on the second floor of the meeting room! Hurry!" Crescent walked around, seemingly uncaring about his position being given away. "Ms. Nikos, I expected a bit more time to chat. I'm a bit disappointed."

Pyrrha fired back, "Forgive me if I don't lose sleep over catching you Crescent." He tipped his hat to Pyrrha, "Fiery, I like it." If that comment affected Pyrrha she didn't show it.

With a flip of his cape, he walked to the window on the second floor, climbing out, his hand hanging on the frame. "I'll see you girls next time!" "Crescent no!" shouted Pyrrha.

'_He's insane! The winds outside won't let him fly right, but he must know that right?!' _thought Blake.

He stepped out into the winds, disappearing with the winds. The two officers stood there, their mouths wide open as they watch him vanish. The gears in Blake's mind started turning as she clung to the last bit of hope.

"He didn't open his glider, which means he's not flying to escape! He just dropped to the first floor!" Pyrrha nodded and passed the information to the other officers. Within seconds, all of the police was searching the ground floor for the magician.

Like before, the girls managed to do a sweep of the hallways, leading to the meeting room. Once checked all of them returned to report their actions. Yang and Ruby hadn't noticed anything different about their area, nothing that was moved or anything that was different. Blake and Pyrrha nodded, their own area showed no signs of disturbance. Sun had run in panting, having to cover his own area alone. "I got nothing girls, maybe he really escape with his glider?"

Yang shook her head, "But that would be suicide with the heavy winds!" It was in the quiet of their interactions that the wind spoke to them, still lashing out against the walls of the house. With the wings that strong, flight would be impossible, but at the same time none of the officers knew where he had vanished to.

Their radios came alive, one of the officers reporting in, "You may want to see this. We spotted Crescent from the front door of the manor." With a smile, the team rushed to find their newly spotted and hopefully soon captured foe. When they arrived at the front of the manor, one of the officers took off his hat and shook his head, pointing out to the coast.

When they looked over, they noticed a very visible white cloak flying away from the island, out into the ocean. Somehow having passed the entire field of wind that would cripple bullheads and helicopters, somehow that pesky white glider had survived and even made its way out of their reach. Yang groaned loudly while Ruby threw her hat at the floor.

Pyrrha sighed, "He really did fly past the winds…" Blake shook her head slowly, almost in disbelief about the situation, _'He passed by everything so easily… how? It was like we weren't a factor in his actions.' _

Sun placed a hand on her shoulder, more for comfort than anything else. His voice seemed sure, but his face was doubtful of his words, "We'll get him next time Blake. I'll check the city, see if anyone saw where exactly he took off from." She watched as Sun started his way into the city proper, his body being pushed slightly by the winds.

Unsure of what to do next, Blake sighed and nodded. She couldn't even get any new information from him, seeing how he didn't really give her much of a chance. Pyrrha meanwhile was talking with her team, asking about anything that they learned. Both of the other girls shook their heads, not even having seen the man until the front of the manor.

Pyrrha hung her head and went back to the meeting room, hoping she missed something. Not having anything to do after their failure, the rest of the team followed her. It was only then when they arrived at the room, did Yang and Ruby see the latest in Crescent's tricks. Pyrrha walked over to the cards, examining them. Yang looked around the room, her eyes wandering. Ruby was the only one that checked the case after removing the rest of the cards from the case.

It was in that moment that a minor detail was found. "Girls! Check this out!" shouted Ruby as her silver eyes narrowed over the case. Blake quickly unlocked the case and sprung it open, her amber eyes seeing what silver had.

The pillow that once held Gambol Shroud was slightly tilted, almost like someone had moved it. Picking it up showed that the bottom was hollow, able to let a person under it. That's when it clicked for Blake.

'_The windows and cards were his distraction! He was under the gem the whole time! All he had to do was reach up and take it, his only problem was us! The minute we paid attention to the windows, he picked up the gem and dove back down!'_

One look at Pyrrha showed that they both had come to the same conclusion. It was at that moment that Ghira and Kali appeared, almost like they were summoned. Yet it was Kali that spoke first, "No luck girls?" They all shook their heads. Ghira sighed heavily and looked up at their daughter, "It's okay Blake, we'll figure this out. For now, get some rest. I'll dismiss everyone."

The girls seemingly agreed, no one making an argument. Blake dragged her feet to her room, not wanting to think about the night's failure. Getting closer to her room, she managed to hear the rattling of handcuffs and the wooden headboard of her bed being slammed onto the wall of her room.

'_No… no one would be that stupid would they?'_

She opened the door, shock was not a strong enough word for what she saw. Sun was tied to her bed with his own handcuffs, his mouth taped over, but most surprising of all was the fact that he was only in his boxers. Sun's blue eyes met her amber eyes filled with fear, his motions indicating that he wanted her to come closer. She did not. She did not want to, and almost nothing would force her to enter that room with him in that state.

However her only alternative was standing in the hallway, which might draw attention that no one needed. Reluctantly she stepped into the room, quickly closing the door being her. She ripped the tape from his mouth, silently wishing he had an explanation for his state.

"Owww!" The monkey's gasp of pain was understandable to Blake, but at the same time she thought it necessary if this was his way of courting her. "Blake, get me out of these things! Crescent caught me when we were doing the sweeps and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was stuck to this bed with my own handcuffs!"

"So this isn't you asking me out?" His face told her everything. Sun quickly shook her head, which relieved her of her worries, only for bigger concerns to crash in her head, "Since we started the sweeps Sun?"

Sun's confirmation was all she needed. _'He literally told me he was leaving… He never flew!'_ Sun pointed at a card on her dresser, drawing her attention to it. "He left that for you." Blake looked at the card in question, obviously made for her. It was the same as the night before, a simple emblem on the back of the card and her message on the front.

**I'm glad we were able to dance in the moonlight Ms. Belladonna. Regrettably, I could not show you the grand magic I wanted to, but hopefully tonight was to your liking. I must bid you farewell, hopefully I'll see you in the next illusion!**

Much like before she muttered to herself, "That damn asshole." Letting Sun go was easy, her next task more difficult, yet she knew she would complete.

'_I don't know where this path will lead, but it's the one that I want to try.'_

She rushed to her parent's study, knowing both of them would still be there. "Mom? Dad? I want to join the Vale team to chase and capture Crescent."

**A/N: Sorry about the super late chapter, finals took up a good portion of my time recently. However I did manage to get the entirety of the Menagerie chapter into a super chapter! Hopefully our team can meet up with Weiss soon! By the way, let me know if you guys want a christmas chapter like the one I did for Halloween. **


	8. The Crescent Effect

**A/N: Special thanks to Steelrain66 for your review! I answered your question in the chapter so thanks for keeping me focused! lol**

Now with a new member of their team, the girls headed back to Vale. The same ship that had picked them up was back to drop them off in Vale. Jaune, Ren and Nora were there to see them off, apparently not having done enough in the one day they were in Kuo Kuana, hence the reason for them staying back in Menagerie.

While Yang figured it would be Pyrrha that would be upset, her surprise came when Ruby of all people was downcast with the news. Asking about it later, she learned that Ruby wanted Jaune to teach her some magic tricks during the long flight. Pyrrha had smiled at the group and waved goodbye. The Lotus team waved them off and the Officer team watched as they became dots on the ground.

It had been about two weeks from when they had left Menagerie, the girls had noticed a new fad that had come about thanks to their "favorite" magician. People online were posting support for the thief in various forms. Some would dress up and parade around as him, while others talked about how Crescent was a wake up call the police needed with crime.

The fan club that Nora had mentioned had ballooneed in popularity, especially after someone had recorded his latest escape in the Belladonna Manor. While the video showed little of what had happened, it did show his paraglider flying to safety.

"Crescent finally wins", read aloud Blake.

"You think people wouldn't be siding with a thief when it came to the safety of Vale." Yang shrugged, "We thought the same, but if you notice, very few people like what he does. It all comes back to thinking he's cute." Blake continued to scroll on the news of the thief's "victory", but like Yang had explained, almost everything that had been posted about him only revolved around how the man looks and what some of the girls would do to him if he ever "whisked them away."

It was a strange moment when people would only see the thief with those kinds of feelings, yet Blake wouldn't comment on it aloud, after all ninjas were just so much better. With a heavy sigh, she looked back at the team, most of them having to fill out paperwork for their expenses and the follow up reports for chasing after that man.

With the extra time she had Blake focused her attention back to how Menagerie was doing. Her mother didn't answer her scroll, so Blake moved over to jump onto the news on her computer. Everything seemed like it everything was normal, the new houses that the Lotus charity was building was coming along, with a walk-a-thon was soon coming up in Kuo Kuana.

She figured that would be a good way to draw attention to them, hopefully that team could reach their goals. She was content with watching her hometown until the red scarfed officer appeared next to her. "Hey Blake, I found a video that you may want to look at. It's when you know who gave back the Champion's Heart. Maybe you can find something on it that we missed?" Blake merely nodded, her expression blank as she connected the flashdrive Ruby had given her to her computer.

She watched as Ren and Nora interacted with the thief, the same confidence that he had displayed with her and Kali. From watching the video, she noticed a small detail. He talked with the two of them like old friends, even if the couple were on guard the whole time. Maybe that was why they were so off put by the thief. Then again, he seemed to talk to everyone in a familiar sense. Sitting up on the chair she paused the video to take a good look at him, his profile in her head was coming along, but it really seemed to clash with itself.

Alexander's voice was heard as he walked into the room, "Is that your Crescent? I hadn't seen your version of Crescent until now." The girls nodded, not sure where he was going with the question. He seemed to take his time looking at the photo, his attention held on the thief's face and costume.

"He certainly looks the part, the suit is different, but if he's still going around stealing items then it looks like he isn't far off from the original. Still be on your guard, he could strike at any moment."

'_Arc... '_

Pyrrha could have sworn she saw her father's face fall into a frown for a bit, but it seemed to happen almost instantaneously. It was like he relieved a bad memory from his past.

In the same moment, his face seemed to warp back into his neutral expression as a mail carrier entered the door and walked straight up to Captain Nikos with two envelopes, almost making sure that he received them personally.

A short message had Pyrrha looking down at her scroll, a slight smile creeping up on her as she read the sender's name. She looked at the rest of the message, slowly going over to the television in the corner of the station. Grabbing the remote, she changed the channel to a local news. "Guys, Jaune said that Ren's on tv!" Her emerald eyes focused on the single newscaster as the city of Kuo Kuana as she was interviewing a familiar face.

Yang smiled, "Man you and Magic Boy still talking? You know I was kidding when I said magic revs up your engine right?" Pyrrha felt the blood rushing to her face, "He's a very nice person! Can we focus on the tv?" Everyone's eyes slowly moved from their leader to the television set.

**Jaune / Ren / Nora**

"**This is Lisa Lavender, coming at you live from Kuo Kuana! Here with me is Mr. Ren-Valkyrie. Tell me Mr. Ren, what exactly is happening here? Why did you and the Lotus Charity come to Menagerie?"**

**The man in green took a deep breath and the ghost of a smile could be seen. "Well Ms. Lavender, we at the Lotus Charity believe that a good structure in cities and towns helps everyone. It may seem like the cities have taken care of themselves well enough, but the people are as much a part of the city as the buildings and some people forget that. That is why here in Menagerie, my team is helping build some houses for the poor of the city and we hope to get permission to host a walk-a-thon in order to raise money." **

**Lisa nodded, a clear sign of surprise in her eyes as she continued, "Tell me, what inspired you to create this organization when most people your age would be starting their careers?" **

**She held the microphone in front of Ren, who was gathering his thoughts. He looked rather lost in thought as his brow furrowed and his hands started to clench themselves. He opened his mouth several times, trying to talk, but the words wouldn't come out. The camera zoomed out a bit to show that Nora was walking up to the interview area. **

**Her face no longer housing the happy hyperactive smile she had displayed on the bullhead with the girls. Now her frown was the only thing that the girls could make out, her eyes seemingly lost some of her shine. Wrapping her arms around Ren, Nora whispered something in his ears, which seemed to calm the man and with a quick nod held Nora. The hug only lasted a few moments, but Nora refused to let him go, a small smile on her face once more, her hands wrapping themselves around Ren's. The man took a deep breath, his hands relaxed and with a nod, took the microphone.**

"**I was inspired to make this organization since I was a child. I lived in a small village in Anima, the smallest village you can think of. We all supported one another and picked our neighbors up. That was until one fateful day. I was one of the survivors of a devastating earthquake in our small town of Kuroyuri. It was the only earthquake of its kind for over 75 years in Anima. I watched as the village crumbed, foundations broke, and the aftermath is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. So in honor of the people lost there that day, I wanted to help people, not just humans but fanuas as well. Thus, I founded the Lotus Charity with my then partner, now wife Nora Valkyrie."**

**Lisa Lavender's hand covered her slightly open mouth, her eyes raised as Ren talked. She looked over to the cameraman, lost by the story of loss that she had just witnessed. Her hand reached out for the microphone, retrieving it easily from Ren's hand. "I see…" Her face revealed her inner turmoil, clearly trying to change the topic from the man's history. "Why the Lotus charity? Why not call it the Ren or Valkyrie charity?" **

**Ren's turned to the reporter, ignoring the camera that was pointing at him, "That's because the lotus flower represents what I wanted from our organization. Even with the dirtiest of water, the lotus is able to bloom into a beautiful flower."**

**Lisa's commented quickly, "So you wanted to raise everyone up into a better tomorrow?" Ren's quick nod gave them all a smile on their faces. "Anything else you want to say to our viewers? Future partners? Maybe a special event coming up?" Ren shook his head, "As it stands right now, we have the awareness raising walk-a-thon planned in the upcoming days, now that the houses are mostly made. Apart from that, we have other plans, but they are still in the early stages. Hopefully we can put more events into action soon." **

"**Is there anyone else that is helping you?"**

**Ren continued, "Of course, it's not just me and my wife working here." He pointed to a small group of 8 others, both fanuas and humans alike. The camera took its time looking over them, a certain tall blonde being the more noticeable one in the bunch. Almost like he knew there was a camera pointed at him, Jaune turned in time to see the interviewers looking over. With the biggest smile he could muster, he waved at the camera mouthing the words "Hi Mom!" at it. The rest of the group turned and started to wave at the camera, their smiles growing. "In fact, Deery and Perry decided to join our organization while we were in Menagerie, so we're still getting more support. We're small, but still gaining traction."**

**Lisa nodded as she spoke, "I believe that's all the time we have Mr. Ren, thank you very much for speaking with us. Hopefully we can see more of the Lotus organization!" Lisa kept talking about other news happening in Menagerie, but by that time the girls stopped paying attention.**

**Pyrrha / Ruby / Blake / Yang**

"Well, that was a thing." uttered Yang. Ruby perked up, "They're really doing some good!" Pyrrha nodded, "They care about the world and want to help. I think that's admirable."

Before they could continue with their conversation Alexander spoke up again, "Girls, looks like someone's trying to copy Crescent. Some idiot thinks he can attract the same attention." He raised the opened blue envelope. Or it would have resembled said item if it wasn't crumbled up in Captain Nikos' hand.

Blake looked at the card, "How do you know it's a fake and not the real thing?" His eyes jumped to Blake's computer, once again looking at the screen of the thief's face.

With a soft sigh he spoke, "The card's all wrong. There's no twin crescents on the card and there's no flare to it, it just says that he's going to try for the Champion's Heart again. The first Crescent never did repeat visits, that was too risky seeing how we would already know the layout of the area and put up better "defenses" for him. Nonetheless, if he wants to be Crescent, you'll just have to take him down like him. He claimed to be at the Emerald Museum again, this time at 7."

Yang shook her head, "Wow, this guy has copycats now?" Yang quickly rose from her chair, more than happy to leave the paperwork behind, "I got this one. I doubt a copy cat will give me much trouble. Standby for the call to pick him up. Pyrrha quietly tched, wanting to skip her own paperwork.

Ruby nodded, "Okay Yang, be careful!" Before she could say anything more, Ruby's scroll beeped, drawing her attention to it. She opened the message and she beamed, "Yes! Weiss' scroll is fixed!"

Immediately Yang's focus shifted, "Who's Weiss?" Pyrrha spoke up, "You don't mean Weiss Schnee right? One of Atlas' Specialists?" Ruby nodded frantically, "Yeah! That's her! We started talking online before I finished with the academy! Now she's like my bestie!"

Blake blinked, "Someone mind explaining what a Specialist is? It sounds like an important title, but that's all I get from it."

Ruby sent out a message to this Weiss person and responded, "Sure! In Atlas, some officers can graduate ahead of time and with special conditions. Atlas Specialists are supposedly the best of the best when it comes to Atlas. Weiss and her sister Winter are both Specialists, but while Winter gets sent all over Mantle and Atlas, Weiss is kinda stuck in Atlas."

Yang stared at Ruby, "FIll me in on this Weiss girl when I get back. It's cute that my little sister made her first friend! Here I thought it would be the coffee boy near the academy. You know the one, I think his name was Oscar? Anyways, toodles!"

**Yang**

With that Yang took her motorcycle out of the station, nicknamed "Bumbleby", taking off to the Emerald Museum. It was practically a solid yellow, slight gold with white accents on the bike. It was in no way a police issued motorcycle, but it was definitely Yang's.

By the time she had arrived, it was almost time for the faker to arrive. She hoped this guy would at least provide half the challenge the original gave. Otherwise, she couldn't be held responsible for her actions. This time the guards there noticed who she was and immediately let her in.

Lilac eyes followed the curves of the building, scanning any and all areas where this faker could come in. If this guy wanted to be Crescent, then she had to make sure he would regret that decision. Like with their Crescent, Yang checked her scroll for the time. It was two minutes until showtime, and she was ready for anything.

Or at least she thought she was.

Showdown time came and nothing had happened. She figured it was like the time in Menagerie where he was going to distract her in order to get to the circlet, or possibly like the first time in this very location, where he dropped knock out gas in order to remove them from the scene. She honestly wished for one of those things to happen.

What she got was a very rotund man slowly fall from the air, trying desperately to recreate the image from the first night. It may have worked, if the man wasn't trying to keep himself from falling by using a pulley system that was so clearly wrapped around him that Yang didn't have words to explain. Instead of moving around or trying to even to counter him, Yang chose to stay still and wait. It didn't really seem like he was getting very far.

"You know, if you wanted to be anywhere close to Crescent level of good, you have a long way to go buddy!" she announced.

At least he got the suit right… kinda? The color is all wrong and he doesn't look the same. Ok, he got a suit. That's generous to give him right? The fact that Yang could wait for the man to get himself to the ground was aggravating to her. The man was lowering himself so slowly that Yang could have sworn she could drive to the station, get herself a coffee, pick up the squad car, come back, and he would still be lowering himself.

This was exactly why she was so eager to start fighting Crescent, now it just felt like she was babysitting some of those same stupid criminals she had complained to Pyrrha. At this point, she was ready to pull out someone's hair. Hopefully the girls were doing much better than her.

**Pyrrha / Ruby / Blake**

Back at the station, Pyrrha was looking over other heists of Crescent with Blake and Ruby, both redheads occasionally typing back a message to Jaune and Weiss. It wouldn't take long for Ruby to get a message that grabbed her attention.

"Guys! Weiss is inviting us to Atlas! She says that her father decided to make his annual charity drive into a public event!"

Pyrrha's gaze jumped to Ruby, "Hmmm… You think he would accept a small charity starting out?" Blake immediately perked up from the video, "You want to help the Lotus charity huh? They are doing quite well." Ruby started to text back Weiss, asking for permission, "Hopefully they can! After all, the Schnee Corporation does manage a lot of rich people funds for charity! If our friends can get some, imagine all the good they can do!" Weiss' reply was quick, having sent her a form to give Ren, which she promptly sent to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha looked at her confused, before realizing no one had any contact with the Lotus team outside of her. She quickly sent the form over to Jaune with a quick explanation of what had happened with their side. Ruby was smiling at them, "Plus we get to go to Atlas! Isn't that amazing?" Blake shook her head, "We don't really have any reason to go. You do, you have a friend to visit. Plus what would your sister say?"

**Yang**

Said sister, finally saw the guy down, the poor man's rope hadn't been long enough to reach to the bottom of the museum. She had been forced to go up to the second floor via the elevator and help the man swing himself over to her before getting him down from his rope.

Unfortunately, once on the floor he once again attempted to channel his inner Crescent and make something of a flair for the dramatic. Even if nothing else had worked, he seemed quite confident with his words.

"I am Crescent, he who stalks the night and steals the rarest of jewels! If you're lucky, I may even whisk you away Miss."

Yang's patience had been running dry, but that last comment killed any shred of hope for her patience. Eyes turning red, she opened her mouth, "Listen here… I have been waiting on you for a half hour and you honestly aren't here to steal the jewel, so get your rope, grab your little setup from the roof and go home!"

The thief smiled, "You can try whatever you want officer, but I will escape with the jewel!" Yang grumbled, "I should have let Pyrrha take this one." She then had to watch the fake jump from the second floor onto the ground with a loud thud. Baffled, Yang called the paramedics.

**Jaune / Ren**

Jaune and Ren threw themselves onto their beds, both of them exhausted. The magenta eyed boy looked over at his friend, wanting to ask him a question but a groan come out of his lips. The blonde's reply was a simple nod and a simple word, "Same…"

Nora meanwhile was still running around, exploring their hotel. How she still had energy after their last day baffled the two men. After the day with the cameras and the charity work, both of the boys were ready to sleep forever. It was at that moment that Jaune's phone rang.

"Hmm?" He looked at his phone, his eyes reading the message, a slight smile forming on his face. One eye stared at the blonde's antics while Ren's voice came from the pillow, his face was currently buried in, "You're lucky Nora isn't here. She might tell you to date this girl already. You haven't stopped texting her since you got her number."

Jaune threw a pillow at him, the small smile falling, "I wish I could Ren… I would have to explain Crescent to her, and guess why that's a problem?" Ren waved him off, "Love conquers all Jaune." A small laugh came from Jaune, "Get out with your sappiness Ren!"

Once he understood the form that was sent to him Jaune forwarded the email to Ren. He knew that he needed to take care of his own things, their own charity activities having forced him to not return to the Belladonna household. He struggled to get up, slowly making his way to the shower, collecting his toiletries with him.

Meanwhile, Ren looked at what Jaune had sent him and curiosity soon got the better of him, _'How did Jaune get a hold of this? An application to enter the Schnee Corporation's fundraising gala as a chosen charity?' _

Trusting in his friend, Ren filled out the form and sent it to the email that was proven within the form. It took only ten minutes, but Jaune soon stepped out of the shower. Dressed in his hoodie and jeans like always, he double checked everything he had, taking with him a package that he hid in the hoodie's joined front pocket. Just as Ren was about to speak, his scroll rang. An unknown number was calling him, requesting permission for a video chat.

Against his better judgement, Ren answered the call. A woman in white was the caller, she was prim and proper, while her hair was white, she looked young. Her eyes were icy blue, and her hair tied up in a bun, yet she seemed to radiate a motherly warmth, even through the scroll.

"Hello Mr. Ren, I am Willow Schnee. Thank you for your application, in fact we were looking to offer your organization an invite to our gala. I saw your interview in Menagerie, and I decided that you are exactly what our gala is made for-helping our fellow man.

I was touched by your display of dedication to your cause. I understand you know of what our gala is for right?" Ren nodded, unsure of what to say when life seemingly hands you a golden opportunity on a silver platter. Willow smiled warmly, "I am personally inviting the Lotus organization to the gala. I hope you and your team can meet us there. Using the same email you did to send in your application, please give us the names of your invited personnel. We can take care of everything else. Thank you very much for your cooperation." As the call ended, Ren let out a breath, "What just happened?"

**Crescent**

Jaune managed to sneak into the Belladonna household once more, this time as himself. Once he found the meeting room empty, he quickly changed his clothes to his Crescent outfit. Hearing a creaking door, he hid behind one of the room's pillars, only to see Kali and Ghira Belladonna coming into the room. The giant of a man spoke calmly, yet firmly, "Crescent, you can come out." He peeked out and nodded to the two of them, "Can't be too safe you know. Being an international thief and all."

He put away his scroll, the last message still on the screen. It had been from Ren with the words, "We're going to Atlas!"

Ghira scoffed, but didn't make much of a fuss. Kali stepped up, slowly putting out her hand. Crescent knew what she was asking for but he needed the meeting room for one more thing. "One last thing before we talk?" The Belladonna's both raised an eyebrow as he pulled out a small video camera. He quickly set it up, the background pointed towards the window to give away as little as possible about his current location.

He turned on the camera and started to broadcast the image of himself. He added a mask onto his own face, but even then his white suit, his golden laced hat and his sheer confidence limited the options of who the person could be.

"Hello Schnee family, and Atlas in general! I hope you remember my voice, because I will be attending the charity drive the Schnees has opened to the public! This time, for a one time only event, I will announce my presence in video rather than card!"

He gave his back to the camera, revealing his cape, emboldened with the twin arcs of his. "Of course, attendance means I will be a guest, but I will also be the one with my own magic! A little kitty suggested that I should make Atlas my own stage, and honestly? I like my chances with it.

However, I will not make a mad dash and grab during this charity event, no no, I just have my eyes on one gem in particular. On the night of the gala, I will be stealing the pride of joy of the Schnees! The Snow Angel!

"Hopefully the people of Atlas will appreciate my illusions! Until then, I must bid you farewell!" With a single hand, the camera shut off.

Crescent looked over from the camera, his guests the Belladonnas watching him make his next claim to steal. While Ghira looked impressed with the young man's courage, Kali merely held out her hand, as if waiting for something to be given back to her. Crescent took out Gambol Shroud and pointed the culet towards himself, the wider part of the gem facing the moonlit night. He looked through, not finding what he needed and tossed it back to Kali, who caught it easily.

The cougar faunas smiled, "Thank you very much, but you do realize had you asked I would have told you Gambol Shroud wasn't it right?" Crescent shook his head, "Oh yeah, like I'm going to ask the equivalent of a Queen to let me ransack her jewels?" Kali laughed, "Fair point, but I can assure you, your gem isn't on Menagerie. You can trust in that."

While the mask didn't allow her to see it, Crescent raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "So Mrs. Belladonna, any chance you know where it is?" A smile crept on his face, "Or should I call you Mrs. Black Cat? Maybe you prefer your other alias, Glynda Goodwitch?"

Kali giggled, "You're much more perceptive than your old man, Arc. Hopefully that will help you in Atlas." The name kept coming up, and while she wasn't wrong in who the person was, the fact that she knew him lingered in the back of his mind.

"How exactly did you figure out who I was Mrs. Belladonna?" Kali walked up to Crescent, taking the mask off his face and looking at his eyes. "Blonde hair, blue eyes. You look almost identical to your father. Also, and this is important, your gem only has value to the Arcs. No one else would bother donning the disguise for it."

His response was to scratch the back of his head sheepishly," I suppose you're right on that. I hope you can keep this secret as well? I know you kept my father's secret. Especially since your own daughter is trying to capture me as well."

Kali nodded, "Worry not, young Arc. Blake always liked figuring out puzzles, so something like this seems like the perfect challenge for her. Besides, even if I am no longer a Thief, I will keep the honor among thieves. I will not aid you though, if you get captured, that's your problem. I just hope you can find the second Crocea Mors."

**A/N: Thank you very much for reading my story! I'm trying out something new, since the story will start to get more and more people and thus will have to go into so many different perspectives. While I wanted to get Weiss into the story by Christmas, sadly that isn't possible. However, if I can finish it by Christmas there will be a post of 3 omakes. All of them non-canon unlike the Halloween one. **


	9. PTC: Extra 2

**Crescent in the RWBY-verse**

Under the full moon, the VPD had received another card from one Crescent, their enemy with another declaration of crime. His note this time had the team moving towards the Golden Lion Hotel one more time. That is where they found the Magician currently, and unfortunately the gem was already under his grasp, despite their best efforts.

"Thank you for the fun tonight girls! I can't wait to see you in the next illusion!"

Pyrrha shouted back at him, "You won't get away with this Crescent!" With his face turned into a smirk he tossed the emerald into the air. "My dearest Pyrrha, I think we're past the idle threats don't you?" As the emerald came back down, the only thing that stopped its descent was Crescent's hand on top of it. When his hand made contact with the gem, Crescent vanished.

No smoke, no blocking off their view of him, nothing to distract the girls. "Where did he go?!" shrieked Ruby in surprise. Blake quickly went to where the thief had previously been, checking the location for any kind of "magic" as he would call it. There was nothing there. Yang shook her head in disbelief, "He really did vanish this time…"

Crescent felt the hard ground of the hotel as he stumbled, "What the heck happened?" He looked at the gem in his hand, thankfully it was still safe, but it did raise questions about what happened. Nothing around him had changed, the only thing that was out of place was the lack of officers in front of him. Apart from that small detail, the only distinction he could make was the security alarm try to deafen him.

Wasn't that alarm supposed to be disabled by now?

He could hear a faint voice filtering in from the door, it could have been louder if the alarm would stop killing every other sound from entering. "Turn off the alarm, Jaune! Have Nora come to the foyer! We see the culprit here!"

He could recognize the voice coming from outside the room, it was Officer Rose! Why would she be telling him to shut off the alarm though? She shouldn't really know he was in the building.

With the alarm turning off, it gave him time to think about what was happening, unfortunately it also gave him another noise to focus on - the growing sound of footsteps.

He stood up to see the team he had always faced off against, with one exception. A certain tall redhead was missing from their line up. The missing member wasn't the only thing he noticed, as taking Officer Nikos' place was a girl clad in white, their rush not giving him more to think. clothing was completely different. It was only after staring at them did he notice two more immediately pressing issues. One, they all seemed younger, a lot younger, hell Ruby looked 15! Second, which probably should have been first, all of them were carrying a certain weapon, which did nothing to calm the thief. "Officers?! Since when did the police allow such weapons on our games?"

All of them looked confused, especially after seeing Crescent. The girl in white stamped her foot and seemed to glare at the man whose heat could rival the suns. "Arc?! What are you doing here?! Why do you have the emerald?!" Before he could answer ice was thrown at him from what seemed to be magical circles?

"Whoa!" His face hit the floor once more.

He could hear Ruby chastising the girl, "Weiss?! What was that for?" The girl named Weiss seemed to have an edge to her voice. "He's the thief! He has the emerald! We need to stop him! If I have to freeze him in place then so be it!"

Taking a quick glance at the new girl, she seemed to be smiling a bit devilishly , almost as if she was going to enjoy capturing him. Yang put herself in between them, "Are we sure this is about the theft? It looks more like your trying to take revenge for calling you Snow Angel again."

Crescent took a deeper look at this Weiss girl before agreeing, "Huh, you do look like a Snow Angel." A loud shriek was all the warning he got before a wave of ice came at him.

To his defense, he came up with the perfect response to having ice being casually thrown at him. It took 0.1 seconds for his legs to start running. All he heard was Ruby's voice, "WEISS!"

Despite his distance to the girls, he could hear Weiss' anger in her voice, "GET HIM!" Despite his face having the biggest smile he could muster, he could hear a very girlish scream inside his own head. The head-start he had taken vanished as a storm of pink petals cut him off. Once it stopped, both Ruby and Weiss reappeared in front of him. His lucky star must have been on vacation right now, because that was some bull, and this was coming from a magician. He quickly turned around, finding black and yellow blocking his way.

'_Think! Running is no good since apparently they have super speed! Fighting seems like it would kill me before I get anywhere. Wait! The other Jaune, he probably has a team right? Maybe I can stop them with them? Other members are a mystery to me though… I have an idea on who is there if my team is anything to go by, I just hope I'm right!'_

Crescent put on his stage smirk, hoping his plan worked. "Tell me Ms. Xiao Long, are you up for a bet?" Yang's curiosity was piqued, her tone cautious but clearly interested, "Oh? What are we betting Vomit Boy?"

Weiss almost shrieked in response, "Are you seriously wagering with him now? Of all times?" She waved off the heiress, "Hold on, let's see what he's got." Crescent smiled and nodded, taking the chance to continue, "I will bet you that I can summon another Jaune without calling for him. All I need is your headset. I will bet a "do whatever you want" pass."

She certainly looked like the cat that ate the canary as she handed her the headset."I'll take that bet. I know exactly what to ask for too!"

"It's set to talk to Jaune and I assume his team?"

Yang hummed positively, eager to see what he would do. The magician started to mess with his voice box, alternating his voice. Before anyone from team RWBY could ask what he was doing, he switched the headpiece on, his voice sounding identical to Yang's, "Ren! How about I show you a good night?" The voice seemed to radiate Yang's own confidence, making it so much believable. The blonde's eyes widened and her face paled.

Outside, the sounds of a struggle could be heard, including one desperate plea to not break anyone's legs. The glass from the roof shattered, letting in the pink bomber and the rest of her team. The magician had the biggest smirk on his face,

'_Wherever there's a Nora, there's a Ren!'_

All of team JNPR came down all of them, landing perfectly except for Jaune, who landed on his butt. Crescent took his chance and removed his hat, strolling into the middle of the 8 hunters. Even when surrounded, Nicholas' lesson on poker faces guided him through the floor.

"Jaune?!" With a quick glance, he recognized the other team immediately, after all most of them were on his team normally. Crescent winked at them, his mind racing, but of course they would never know that.

'_You got them distracted, now flair your way out!' _

"Hello everyone! I am Crescent, but I assume you know me as Jaune Arc." He sighed the minute several guns were pointed his way. Pyrrha was the first to ask, "Why are you dressed like that? Why dress up like Jaune?" Crescent shrugged, "The better question would be what if it isn't a costume?" Jaune rose an eyebrow, "You mean like another me?" Crescent smiled, "Exactly! Another Jaune was summoned."

'_You got this far, what do we do now?!'_

He could hear a faint, "oh no" coming from Yang. Crescent pointed to Jaune, "I need a word with you." Jaune's eyes immediately started to shift around the hotel, his mouth unable to form words. "Uh.." Nora and Pyrrha stood between them, "Whatever you wish to discuss can be discussed aloud, right Jaune?" Crescent noticed the grateful look Jaune showed Pyrrha, but he needed someone and no one else would willingly hear him out.

Time to be cliche then.

With a flick of his wrist, Crescent's smoke bombs were in his hands. In the seconds of confusion, he pulled out his grapple gun, but before he could shoot it, a black glow came over it and snatched it away from him to land pathetically over by Pyrrha.

'_Of course she can move metal, because why not? This world loves blindsiding me with these super powers huh?'_

He threw his smoke bombs, thanking the gods that he didn't have Nora make the metal version of them. The smoke covered all of them, Pyrrha put up her shield, only to feel a weight jump off it. The sounds of a struggle could be heard and a yelp from Jaune. Weiss used her wind dust to blow away the smoke covering them, resulting in seeing a pair of Jaunes rolling around the floor, Jaune's armor removed from him and the magician Jaune somehow losing the suit without it being on the floor. Crocea Mors clattered to the side of them. Nora examined them both, unable to find a difference, "Which one is our Jaune-Jaune?"

Both Jaune replied immediately, their fingers pointed to the other, "I'm the real one! He's the fake one!" They both got up and looked at one another. "Why not ask them questions that only the real Jaune would know?" Suggested Ren.

Ruby's eyes lit up, "That sounds good! What's my favorite color?!" Both Jaunes deadpanned, "Red, Ruby." Weiss sighed, "Of course… "

Yang chimed in, "What's my nickname for you?" Both of them answered, "Vomit boy…" Blake pinched the bridge of her nose, "You called the thief Jaune that earlier… So of course he would know."

Ren continued, "What is our titles for one another Jaune?" This drew attention from the girls, "Brother from another mother!" was the response from both. Nora awed at the display, but Ren wasn't pleased. It was clear no one was supposed to know that outside of the two teams.

Pyrrha took her chance and worked up her courage, Crescent could tell something was coming as Pyrrha seemed to be fighting to ask her question.

"Jaune, would you want to go out to the movies with me? Not as friends, as in an actual date?"

Both Jaune's looked as shocked as the rest of them. While one of them smiled and opened his mouth, the other started to laugh, almost uncontrollably. "Pyrrha, why? You don't like me like that right?"

Eight heads turned to the laughing Jaune, the other one as slack jawed as the rest of the team. "He's kidding right?" Seven shaking heads convinced Crescent that this was their normal.

Weiss pointed to the Jaune not laughing, "he's the fake!" Jaune tackled the still laughing Jaune and picked up Crocea Mors shield portion to defend himself from Weiss' ice.

Crescent started to scold Jaune, "Are you kidding me? She asks you out and you laugh?!" His Crescent facade broke again. Checking to see where the girls were, he put up the shield and held his arms like the letter T.

"Time out! I really need to talk with him now." Dragging Jaune away from the teams they could only sit and watch as Crescent was pointing at them then back to Jaune. Their Jaune looked like a kicked puppy while the other was moving around fluidly. Crescent turned Jaune's head towards them and threw a card at Pyrrha. She took the card and read it, blushing slightly at the message from it.

"This other Jaune seems very forward."

Crescent shook his head and then showed Jaune the gem they had been in charge of protecting. Exchanging some words with one another, they both seemed to talk more openly and certainly more happily if their faces were anything to go by. After they talked, both of them started walking back, their conversation much different.

"Trust me, you put peanut butter on those bad boys when Ren makes them, and you will never go back!"

"Peanut butter? That just sounds gross man, I prefer jelly on them apart from the syrup."

"Come on man, branch out and try something new!"

"Says the one who won't give up his peanut butter creation?"

"Would I ever lie to myself?"

"If you're me, then yes we would!"

"Touche…"

Both of them came back, Crescent handing Jaune a deck, "Man I hope you're right about that gem. Jaune, go ahead and clear my name here. I need to go home myself. Remember what I told you! Dad's advice only works when the girl already likes you. Trust me!"

With a smile one of the Jaune's pulled out a cape from his hoodie's pocket and wrapped it around himself, the short time he was out of sight was enough to bring back the white suit with the golden trims.

Jaune smiled at Crescent, "Then let's both make it happen!" Both of them shared a fist bump and separated. Crescent tossed the emerald he had into the air once more. "Oh right! Before I forget, you should ask Yang for a favor sometime!"

Jaune smiled, "Thanks me!"

As Crescent grabbed the gem out of the air, his hand covered the top of the cut emerald and like before he vanished into thin air. Jaune smiled widely, his confidence swelling, thanks to his other self. After all, who would know you better than yourself right? "I would love to see a movie with you Pyrrha."

Crescent found himself once more in the hotel, this time it was quiet and the skylight wasn't busted in. He noticed his favorite team of girls looking around for him he assumed. His body loosened up, the tense atmosphere he was in having affected him so much.

'_Glad I'm not living in that world. I would probably need a super power that cancels other super powers to even stand a chance!' _

He left the emerald on the display case and walked out carefully, slipping off his suit in the restroom. Exiting the hotel as Jaune Arc he made his way home.

'_Though I do wonder, what would my super power would be?'_

**A/N: Ever since I started with Phantom Thief, I always did wonder about making it in an AU or not. So i decided to play with the idea a bit for this short. Before, I mentioned that I had three extra chapters, they all mixed together in this one. "Phantom Thief Jaune vs RWBY/JNPR" and "Phantom Thief slaps some sense into Jaune" Hopefully you all enjoyed it. Merry Christmas to everyone!**


	10. Snow Angel

Yang stared at Blake annoyingly, "Oh, we don't have a reason to go to Atlas! Only Ruby needs to go!" Blake curled herself into a ball, more out of cold than anything else, "How was I supposed to know Crescent was going to Atlas too?!"

"Now all of us have to go into the cold tundra that is Atlas!"

Ruby patted her sister's back, "Yang, we know you don't like the cold, but you don't need to take it out on Blake." The bullhead door opened wide and let in a small white haired girl, her own Atlas Specialist uniform covered by the large jacket she had.

Her eyes were icy blue, said white hair was pulled into a ponytail favoring her right side. She pulled on her jacket lightly, performing a curtsy for them, "Hello Ruby, I assume this is the team from Vale you lead?"

All eyes focused on the youngest of them all, with Yang smiling devilishly, "Oh, and here I thought Pyrrha was in charge? When were you assigned leadership?"

Ruby just chuckled and scooted herself over to the girl, whispering to her, "Weiss, I told you not to mention that to them!"

Weiss shook her head, "What do you mean don't mention it? If you're the leader, you need to tell them and make sure they respect your authority!"

Pyrrha chuckled, explaining their own situation, "We don't really have a leader, it's more of a team that moves as one. I'm labeled as leader of the team, but it's more for paperwork than an actual chain of command."

Weiss nodded in acknowledgement, "Very well then, I suppose a proper introduction is in order. My name is Weiss Schnee, daughter of the Schnee family. I am also an Atlas Specialist." The team watched as she went so far as to bow in front of them.

Pyrrha got up and shook her hand, "Hello, I am Pyrrha Nikos." Ice blue eyes scanned the room, observing all of the team before answering, "I do hope you forgive me, but I already know all of your names and statuses, Ruby was quite extensive in her emails as we spoke."

All eyes went back to Ruby, "Oh did she now?" Yang scooted right next to her, immediately locking her in by wrapping an arm around her sister. "What else has our little Ruby been telling you?" Ruby's eyes started to dart around the room, "Absolutely nothing, right Weiss?"

Weiss seemed to catch onto the nervousness that was Ruby Rose. "Of course, she just mentioned your team and how proud she is being part of the team!"

Yang smiled widely, squeezing poor Ruby, "Awww, how cute!"

Ruby pointed out the window, showing the bullhead flying over Atlas, but making no intentions of stopping. "Where are we going?"

Weiss smiled, "Atlas is not our destination, the Schnee Winter Resort is. It is a large winter home that the Schnees hold their events out of the city. It allows us a more wondrous view of nature! It should also give us a slight advantage over that rapscallion Crescent."

Blake rolled her eyes, having seen Yang snicker at the word "rapscallion".

Weiss smiled sweetly, "Being acquainted with the environment helps us in having map of our perimeter before we can even start Crescent's "game".

Blake shook her head, "He's a bit more craftier than that. The last theft was in my own home, yet he seemingly outplayed us there."

Weiss took a second to look at the team, taking the new information into account, "Then we just have to do better." How they wished it was just that simple.

The bullhead seemed to start landing the bullports, each one of them taking their time to enter the chilling winds of Atlas. While Weiss was seemingly used to it or that jacket was doing wonders for her, the girls didn't know. When they arrived at the bottom of the ramp, Weiss already had a large box, filled with several of the same jackets she had on. The team quickly put them on, following the native born Specialist.

The "house" was more akin to a mansion, the top floor was more akin to an observatory, having a glass chamber for viewing the nature outside. The group started to walk towards it, the snow crunching with every step.

Ruby quickly ran up to join Weiss in the front of the group. "I forgot to thank you Weiss!" That caught everyone's attention.

"Oh? What for Ruby?"

"If it wasn't for you and your family, I wouldn't have stopped one of Crescent's escape routes! Remember when you sent me that picture of the Golden Lion Hotel in Vale? Crescent placed a "promotional" balloon on the roof to escape with!"

Weiss nodded, "And you figured out it shouldn't have been there because my family and I had recently visited?" Ruby nodded excitedly.

Yang laughed as she strolled up, "That explains why you were up there Rubes! I didn't know you were getting advice from Atlas that back ago!"

Pyrrha shook her head, "It did help, you know, up until you took to the skies."

Ruby groaned with annoyance, "Don't remind me! Crescent had to save me!" This caught Weiss' attention, "He...saved you?"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, then he gave me the gem once he checked it for something?" Weiss nodded along, "So he's looking for something in particular. Interesting…"

Entering the front door of the resort was simple, it was what came afterwards that didn't really help. Just a few steps into the door, the security of Atlas was no joke. It looked like an airport security check, complete with metal detectors and guards basically screening anyone that bothered to step in. The girls took their turns to step in, having to remove all metal as they turned to see the inside of the resort.

The entire room they were in looked more like a ballroom, draped in white and blue paint, the only change being the blueish curtains that hang from the nearby windows. While it wasn't really needed to figure out who this belongs too, the Schnee logo was proudly displayed on the walls of the resort. It didn't take long for the girls to get themselves checked in, all of them hardly having any metal that wasn't easily explainable. Weiss, acting as their escort once more started to give them the tour.

"This is the main room, while most of the parties happen here, we can always locate our events in other rooms inside the resort. This, however, more of a space that can be used to cater to our needs. If you notice, the "cabins" are more suited in the back in order to accommodate our guests if they want privacy. If you follow me, there will be a bit more to show you girls. After all, we can't have our information circuit lacking if we wish to capture that Crescent." The other girls nodded and went with Weiss, showing them each room. "While we do have several large rooms for the events, most of those are locked up for today, seeing how there will be only one event.

Pyrrha spoke up, "Is there alternate ways to enter or exit the rooms?" Weiss shook her head, "All the rooms are connected to the hallway by one entrance/exit. If someone wants to head into a room, they won't be getting out without having to come out the same door Ms. Nikos."

Blake opened a door to peek inside one of the meeting rooms. She found one that was left open, seeing the entire room doused in gray and white, the only furniture being a table, some chairs and a small plant in the corner. Other than that, the only other thing was a single double doored window that lead outside, and into the snow assumed Blake.

While the team moved forward, Blake quickly caught up and looked at the guards that stood nearby. That's when an idea popped into her head.

'_He's a genius at masking himself, that's what happened with Sun. So what if we can find out who he'll be hiding as?' _

Without asking or giving the poor girl warning, Blake pinched her, almost surprised that she grabbed actual skin. The girl's sharp cry wasn't exactly the attention Blake had wanted to get.

Before her team could respond, Weiss immediately walked up to her and dragged her off. "What was that for Ms. Belladonna?" Blake's confidence seemed to waver against the five foot tall girl.

"Crescent is a master of disguise, he can usually hide in plain sight thanks to his disguises, but it's always a mask."

Weiss nodded as she seemingly took in the information. "A type of concealment huh… I'll keep that in mind. I will ask that you not repeat your actions though. I don't need the Schnee staff being pinched by a random guest."

Blake nodded and watched Weiss go back to the group, leading them forward, showing them the rest of the house. She quickly found herself flanked by Yang, who was sporting the biggest grin she could muster. "Nice to know my idea isn't weird. I didn't think it would be you to check it though, I would have bet it would have been Pyrrha."

After showing them the several conference rooms and other amenities that the resort had, she lead them to the elevator. Filing into the elevator, she started to explain the last trip that she had. "On the top of the resort is a restaurant that subscribes to the best food you could make, the last time I was here it was amazing. That is why you are all invited to dine with me right now! A show of commitment to the solidarity of our group!"

Each one of the girls looked at Weiss with a bit of a shock. "Really? Do you mean it Weiss?" "Of course Ruby!" Ruby started to almost jump in excitement, the only reason why she didn't was Yang holding her down forcefully.

That's why when the doors opened to reveal an empty restaurant, Weiss gasped. Going over to the podium the team could hear an audible groan coming from Weiss, "Looks like the turning mechanism of the restaurant isn't functioning."

A man in a repairman's outfit, complete with the Schnee symbol was emblazoned on his uniform, was doing something in the roof, seemingly dropped as soon as he heard the girls talking. "Hey, you can't be here! The whole area is marked as unsafe! Some crazy guy tried to make himself comfortable and get a private viewing! The restaurant spun so fast, poor guy flung himself out into the snow outside! Whole place is closed down!"

The news did nothing to help the girls, all of them seeing their meals going out the window much like something else did seeing the window being broken. What they didn't notice was that the repairman smiled slightly, watching the girls leave.

He spoke quietly more to himself than anyone else, "Sorry girls, but I need this room for my showdown with the Schnee."

With a heavy sigh the girls managed to make this way downstairs, still kept her cautious glance around the perimeter, double checking everything in case something was off. It led them to returning into the main ballroom they had set up for the party, with several of the people were already starting to gather around.

What surprised the girls was the heavy conversation that they could hear from them, most of it on the topic of a certain magician. No matter where in the ballroom they went, the attention was focused solely on that thief, but Pyrrha supposed that was the reaction she should have expected with him broadcasting his next target himself.

While it was hard to make out many people, there was one couple that the team immediately recognized, more so with an orange haired woman bouncing around like she was a kid hopped up on sugar.

It didn't take long or Weiss to make the connection to their team. "Someone you know?" Yang chuckled softly, "Something like that, They're friends with us, a charity that started their way to make sure everyone got help."

"That's pretty admirable, especially at a young age!" Weiss commented.

Pyrrha and Ruby made their way to the couple of the Lotus organization, both of them noticing that a certain blonde was missing from their team.

"Whatever happened to Jaune?" Nora's smile seemed to brighten up as she started to speak almost like she was remembering a funny joke, "He tried so hard to make it, but unfortunately he got sick on the way over here, that pesky motion sickness struck once more! He'll be okay, he just needs time to rest, if I remember right, he should be asleep right now."

"Awww, that stinks," said Ruby. "Well hopefully he'll feel better soon! We should wish him well the next time we see him!"

"I'm sure he would appreciate that Ruby," Ren replied.

Nora blurted out, "Did you guys see that skiing competition that was going on? I signed up Jaune and I to compete! It's gonna be awesome!"

Pyrrha moved up with a slight smile, "Then we'll be sure to come catch the event Nora, seeing how we'll be busy with our own jobs, I don't think we can participate in the contest ourselves."

The orange haired girl kinda deflated, "You should still come see us! I have the costumes ready for us! Since that craft business thing, I made all of us costumes!"

Weiss stepped up to separate the two teams, "While it is nice to see and talk with friends once more, I do think we should get going, after all the Snow Angel won't protect itself."

Ruby's eyes seemed to glow, ideas coming to her head, "What if we could build something that could?! A self monitoring system in which not even Crescent could escape capture?!"

Yang tapped Ruby's shoulder, "If you ever come up with that system, let us know. We can try it on that Phantom Thief himself!"

Blake shook her head and smiled slightly, "Wouldn't that be cheating in his little game?"

"What game?"

They all turned to Weiss, who was looking at them with a confused expression.

Blake was the one who decided to fill her in, "Crescent plays this "game", well that's what he calls his heists. I don't know if it's a pride thing or what, but he insists on playing the game in order to keep us entertained I guess? He basically wants to limit what we can do against him, but the weird thing is, he keeps his word surprisingly well."

Yang continued, "It's unusual but he does keep his word."

Upon seeing Weiss' look of confusion she added, "Yeah, I know it's weird but he also has rules for himself that he abides by. Things like only taking what he says and trying to make a big spectacle of each thing in order to notify us he's there. He's in it for the show of outsmarting the police, if I had to guess, after all he never keeps whatever he steals."

"So he truly is looking for one thing only…"

Weiss smiled confidently, "Well then, he has yet to meet Schnee levels of security, after all we don't play around with our security! Nothing gets past us!"

Weiss lead them into the party once more, watching the guards do their jobs, searching almost everyone that came into the event. It was then that Ruby asked Weiss, "So where's the Snow Angel? I get we need to protect it, but this time we haven't seen it yet. Do you guys have it hidden until its show time?"

The white haired girl shook her head, pointing over at the podium on the stage that was filled with cameras and other lights, almost showing off the gem. It was a beautiful sapphire, with a clear shine, reminiscent of the ocean's own color. With it was a set of other jewels, all of them linked together by a single chain of pure gold, With it came other gems and jewels that surrounded it, most likely trying to confuse the thief by adding in fakes or other gems.

While the setup was generous with their assets, Pyrrha expressed her concerns, "A couple of guards nearby and some fake gems? Isn't that a bit lax for this kind of situation? I mean other places have tried for something like this but they didn't really stop him."

A small wink from Weiss shocked her, the heiress happily adding to Pyrrha's comments. "Normally, that would be true, but this time he has to bypass an entire gala of people to even try an attempt in stealing it. The bottom of the case is filled with silent alarms, so if he does try to steal it by the bottom, the guards will quickly catch him. If he tries to go through the vents and steal it from above, the vents are nowhere near the case, meaning unless he can control a string and have it weave through the people to try and steal it, he won't be using that advantage. On the people plan, each one of the guards were handpicked by my father and mother, all of them knowing one another to a tee, meaning impersonation will be nothing but fruitless!" Her laugh at the end really sold how sure she was over her own plan.

Yang leaned towards Blake, her own voice more of a whispered hush, "Me thinks someone is too happy about this much security."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It's not, but it's certaining concerning don't you think?"

Blake shrugged, not really seeing the point in the really specific measures, but thinking back to her own house maybe it would be enough.

Weiss quieted them down as Jaques and Willow started to take the stage in front of them. The other girls turned their attention to the man, the rest of the crowd following their actions without being asked. Unknownst to the girls, Crescent stood in the same room, his own smile spread across his face. All he needed to do was start their show, but he needed to time his appearance just right.

The Schnee couple tapped the microphone, ensuring it worked. "Thank you for coming everyone, my husband and I would like to welcome you all to the Schnee Charity Drive Gala! With your help I know we can change the world for the better. Together we can achieve great things, much like the charities that are here today. So please, talk to the people here and interact as well as you can, learn more about the charities and you can donate your own part with us towards them."

While people started to intermingle, the girls could see that Ren and Nora were keeping up with the people that wanted to talk with them, other people gathering around trying to listen to what the Lotus Charity was doing currently , what it had done, and what it would be doing in the future.

Meanwhile Crescent started to smirk, his plan about to jump into action, all he needed was his white hat as a distraction and the lights to go down. All of which were primed to appear, after all who was he to lie to the generous people of Atlas? He would need to make his own appearance.

It was then when the doors burst open with a group of 16 people stormed the building all with guns loaded and cocked pointed at them. A lone man strolled to the front, his face covered by his mask, but his burning red hair and horns clued everyone to what was happening. The girls could hear people whispering between themselves, "That's the White Fang and their leader, Adam Taurus."

"This is a hostile takeover Schnees!"

**A/N: What? A chapter not about stealing? What kinda madness is this? lol Wanted to try out a different type of activity, where Crescent and the girls actually have to work together. **


	11. Thief! Not a Hero!

**Sorry about the delay in the story, I had a bad case of writer's block. Thankfully, I was able to get myself out of it enough to keep up with this. Expect more showdowns in Atlas! Feel free to leave a review!**

* * *

Everyone in the hall had been relocated into a single room, each one of the gala's attendees tied up and held up at gunpoint. Not wanting to break out into a gunfight in a crowd of unarmed people, Weiss and the team were forced to surrender, ensuring that no one got injured. It was then that Pyrrha and the group formed a small circle as they watched Adam take Jacques deeper into the resort.

"Okay girls, does anyone have any ideas? We need to get out of here and make our way to help out Jacques."

"We need to take down the White Fang members, if one of them notices us sneaking around, they'll tell each other and we may have more problems then," Blake said.

Yang replied, "Got it, take-down any and all White Fang. What else?"

Ruby looked at them all, "Does anyone know how to pick locks? We need to get these handcuffs off of us before we try taking them down."

All the girls shook their heads.

A voice called out to the guards, "Hey guards! Do you like magic?"

They could hear Ren calling out to the man in question. "Mr. Henry Marigold, you don't need to do this!"

Everyone's head turned to a somewhat tall man, his blue hair parted to one side, his strides quickly taking him closer and closer to the guards. That is until one of them put a gun on the front of his white tuxedo shirt, his black coat taking up the rest of his form. "I bet you guys like magic, I mean who doesn't?"

"SIt back down kid, no one needs you to be a hero."

"I'm not trying to be a hero, sir, I just want to know if you guys want to see magic?"

Both guards looked at Henry, their expression covered by the masks, but both of them came closer, placing one hand on each of Henry's shoulders. "Kid, sit down, or else things will get very hurtful if you catch my drift."

"So I'm guessing that's a no?"

Both of the guards shook their heads.

"Shame… Can one of you guys check my wrists? I think you guys cuffed me too tightly. It's starting to hurt."

Both of them looked at his closed hands and picked up their masks in order to check Henry's wrist. Taking a long breath in, his hand opened, revealing a pink ball with a lightning bolt logo on it. Before either guard could jump back, all three of them were surrounded by the pink gas. It didn't take long before the gas knocked out the two guards, leaving Henry by himself standing.

The others watched as the two guards fell, leaving the poor boy by himself. From inside the gas, the attendees could see a black tuxedo and a pair of handcuffs being thrown out of the gas. When the gas finally dissipated, the onlookers were met with a white tuxedo, a white and golden hat, and more importantly, that white cape with golden arcs on the back.

Crescent smirked as he settled his clothes, removing the wrinkles from his clothing, "Here I wanted to impress you guys with my magic, but it looks like I'll have to show you another time!"

Weiss screamed at him, "Crescent?! How are you here?"

Crescent stared at the furious girl and immediately went to search the guard's pockets, "Well you see Ms. Schnee, it's all quite simple. If you don't know who you're looking for then that makes everything a lot harder now doesn't it? When I made my appearance on the video I was blond, now however blue hair seems much more applicable. Oh, by the way, someone check room 201 when you all get back. Tell Henry I appreciate his help, well more like he needed a nap and didn't mind me borrowing his clothes. That's just me being picky though." Pulling out a key from one of their pockets, he quickly threw it to Willow Schnee.

"Do me a favor and get these people to safety, I have something I need to do. Oh! Please make sure to save the officers for last, please? I would hate for them to get hurt." Tipping his hat in their direction did nothing to help with Weiss's glare as he pulled out his gun and shot it to the vents, a grappling hook grabbing said vent and pulling it open.

Blake muttered under her breath, "What the-? Even the gun he used was a fake? Is there anything real about this guy?"

He started to move the single table and the two chairs in the room, one of the chairs standing on top of the table while the other chair had its back resting on the table, all three forming a sort of ladder to the vent.

Satisfied with his work, Crescent smiled and separated himself from the "tower" he had made, slowly grabbing one of the radios from the White Fang members.

'_I need to buy the hostages sometime so they can escape... '_ He took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

'_I always did want to be a hero right?'_

He turned to Willow, unlocking the attendees' handcuffs before anyone else, keeping her word to the man that saved them. "When you manage to free everyone, make your way out. Contact the police, contact anyone that can help stabilize the situation here okay?"

Her eyes met with Crescent's, "What will you do? You're not planning to take on the White Fang are you?" His laughter vibrated throughout the room, catching everyone's attention. "Of course not ma'am. I need to claim what I came for. Before that, however, I need to make sure the path is clear."

Pyrrha yelled out to him, "Crescent, why not work with the authorities? I'm sure they can help clear the area of the White Fang!"

His attention turned to the redhead, "Tell you what, why not come help me when you manage to get out? The more the merrier right? You guys can take all the credit if you want. I just want to make sure that the Snow Angel stays safe. Just one rule for this game though: Don't get hurt."

With that he looked at the structure he had built, sprinting at it. One foot climbed to the chair, the next on the table, and up he went until his feet reached the back of the chair on top of the table. He rode that as it was going down, using the momentum and sprung onto the roof, his hands connecting with the roof's vent. Crescent pulled his own body into the vent on the roof, his cape and feet were the last things to be brought up.

The room was silent, with the exception of Nora clapping her hands, before looking around at the attention she garnered, "What? That was cool!"

Willow Schnee having released all the hostages, she started to move them towards the front door, the group of police girls going up front, tying up the White Fang grunts and stripping them of their guns and the other radio. Blake eyes the vent that Crescent took and calculated the jump distance. "Before we go outside, let me check to see if the coast is clear. We wouldn't want someone to see us moving."

Blake managed to copy Crescent's own movements, building up her speed and jumping up on the chair, then to the table and finally on the other chair, jumping up and making it up on the vent, pulling herself up much like Crescent. The rest of the team waited patiently hoping to get the go-ahead from Blake rather soon.

However, Blake had managed to stumble onto more White Fang members still lurking in the ballroom right outside the room they were held in, blocking their way to the main door outside. They seemed to be looking around, scanning the area for anyone else in the room, meanwhile, the lights were flickering on and off, cutting off the vision for anyone inside the ballroom. When the lights were turned off, the only light was a sliver of moonlight that reflected from the windows.

Despite the constant flickering of the lights, Blake had no problems seeing in the dark thanks to her faunus heritage, something that seemed to skip these poor faunus. Then the lights came back on, showcasing a certain magician standing in the middle of the ballroom, claiming everyone's attention.

"Say, you guys wouldn't know where the Snow Angel is, would you? I'm having a bit of trouble finding it myself."

All the grunt's guns immediately focused on him, leaving him staring down three different barrels of guns, his next words were more carefully thought of. With his hands slowly coming up in surrender he opened his mouth once more.

"Whoa, whoa! I come in peace! All I ask is a bit of information, that's all! Nothing more."

As expected, none of the White Fang members dropped their guns, they only looked at one another, each giving a quizzical look. Blake decided to drop, seeing how they were occupied with Crescent, after all, she needed to take out the guards here in order for the hostages in the ballroom to escape. Blake snuck her way around the guards, wanting to get a better vantage on the three White Fang grunts, yet the only person that saw her was Crescent himself.

A slight smile fell on his face as he walked around more comfortably, "Say you guys wouldn't mind if I made myself a bit more comfortable would you?"

His hands went to grab the cloak, but one of the grunts shouted immediately, "Don't try anything! I've seen when you steal the gems! Don't think you can pull any tricks on me!" With his arms on his cape, Blake was able to notice that smirk of his.

Silently she raised her dust gun, aimed at the grunts. A single shot rang out before Crescent moved. His hand pulled his cape over him and suddenly it flew towards the grunts, one of them stunned by Blake's shot. The cape covered the other two, not allowing them their vision, while both Blake and Crescent sprang into action.

Crescent took a pair of handcuffs, taken from one of the guards that had held them captive and sprung it on a grunt, handcuffing his wrist to his ankle, a slight push sending him toppling down.

Meanwhile, Blake had taken a different approach to her takedown, wrapping her legs around the head of the paralyzed grunt and throwing her body backward, her hands stamping themselves on the ground. With the momentum of the move, the poor grunt's head hit the floor with a loud thud, Crescent noticing the move had knocked the grunt unconscious in a single second.

The last one of the grunts had finally managed to get the cape off of him as he saw two pistol barrels pointed directly at his face. Dropping his own, his hands came up in surrender as Blake slapped another pair of handcuffs on him.

Smiling contently with their work, Crescent picked up the cape that had been thrown, placing it back on his back, "Good work there Ms. Belladonna. It seems we make a good pair."

Blake took a look at her "partner", "Maybe so, but don't think this means we're friends. I'm still going to catch you red-handed."

Crescent's eyes glanced at the grunts they had just taken down, "Well then I'll leave you to take care of the White Fang, I still have some business to take care of."

As Crescent turned his back to them Blake called out to him, "Before you go, I wanted to ask you something. Why help take down the White Fang? You seemed so focused before on wanting the Snow Angel, why bother even talking to them and helping me take them down? You could have used the White Fang being here as the perfect distraction, especially when they had us all prisoners!"

Crescent winked at her once more, "What can I say, Belladonna?" He opened his mouth slightly, trying to continue before he stopped. His entire body turned around as he took a big breath and started for the door, deeper into the resort. "I don't want an audience… Not unless it's you, girls."

* * *

**Yang**

* * *

Once the other prisoners were set free, the girls waited for a signal so they could get the other guests out of the assembly room they were stuck in. They had heard the sounds of people hitting the ground and before long there was a quiet. It took a few moments, but soon they heard a "Clear!" from Blake.

Stepping outside, the police team was met with a Blake standing over the group of White Fang grunts alone, all three of them knocked out. Yang was the only one that spotted a certain white cape fluttering on the other exit, heading into another section of the resort. When she brought her attention back to the other girls, all of them had noticed her attention being elsewhere.

Blake was the first to speak, "Go on ahead and try to arrest the other White Fang members, I'll take care of the people and these members!"

Weiss took charge and lead them all into the resort proper, but almost immediately they were met with a staircase that leads up and another path that continued forward. Yang smiled at the girls, heading towards the corridor. "You guys head on up, I'll stay here and scan the area. I won't be long, but someone needs to do it."

Ruby was about to interject when Yang shook her head, "I'll be fine Rubes, don't worry about me! Go save someone yourself!" With a nod, Weiss led the rest of the team onwards, leaving Yang to fend for herself as she continued down the corridor. Her hair almost flying behind her as she ran, she started to check the halls for anything that could tip her in the right direction.

Before long she managed to hear that magical sound she wanted. "I think he's over here!"

One of the White Fang members was moving towards a window, checking outside of it while two other members were looking around the place. With all three of them standing guard, Yang couldn't just charge in. That's when she felt another weight weigh her down slightly. Looking up, she met the lilac eyes of a familiar face. "Me? What the heck is going on here?"

Her own eyes looked down at her, a smile forming, "So what's the plan here partner? We are going to take them out and hand them over to the cops before the team goes out for a drink?" Yang's eyes narrowed quickly, her voice deadpan, "Oh good, it's you Crescent."

His wink confirmed her guess, "Of course, who else would be here?"

Yang looked at him, "Maybe a friend who can actually help instead of someone that likes playing dress-up?"

He seemingly shrugged it off, "Oh posh, you know what they say. In order to defeat your enemy, you must be your enemy."

Yang stifled a laugh, "I don't think you know how that saying goes."

With a smile, he placed his hand over hers, "Do you trust me?"

She carefully watched him, "What the hell are you planning this time?!"

"Give me like ten seconds, then rush them. Don't worry, you won't get hurt."

With that, Crescent disappeared into a corner, keeping himself out of view. In her mind, Yang started to count from zero to ten, cursing that magician as she went. Once the ten seconds were up, she charged from her hiding spot, but her voice came from elsewhere.

Said voice caught the attention of everyone as another Yang was running full speed towards the armed men and women. Their guns pointed away from the real Yang, they opened fire the other Yang seemed to ignore them as she kept running. By the time they noticed the actual Yang's position, her fist was already buried into one of their cheeks, effectively knocking them out. The other two started to point their guns at her until a claw grabbed the assault rifle from one of them and knocked it into the other, giving Yang the time she needed to land another knockout blow. The last one of the members' dove to the ground, her landing giving her some distance as she rolled. As the gun came up to shoot the unarmed Yang, a cloud of pink dust filled the hallway. Yang could feel herself being pulled away, back into the hallways that had been her hiding place.

Yang could see Crescent pulling back a weird orb thing into his sleeve, hiding it away once more.

"Think you can throw one more knockout punch?"

She cocked her fist back and raised an eyebrow in challenge, "All I need is one shot to knock you out Crescent."

He quickly raised his hands as he led her away from the main hallway where the other member of the White Fang was still at. "Down! Not at me, despite me knowing how much you want me to be on the receiving end. We need one more good punch for that last member. Hope you haven't used up your energy Ms. Champion."

"Can you get me close to her? I'll show you not to provoke the Dragon."

His smirk came back as big as Yang had ever seen it, "Don't let me down then _Dragon_."

Both of them filtered out of the hallways, Crescent throwing the same orb she had seen him reel back in. Yang and Crescent walked in this time all but announcing their presence, using the same tactic, only this time Crescent matched Yang's voice himself.

"Three dragons and one target left. I don't think this will end well for you."

Yang watched as the last member of the White Fang slowly started to raise her hands over her head in surrender. The other Yang "spoke", "Smart, I wouldn't want to face me either."

'_I don't know how but this guy can pull me off so well!'_

Yang started to pull out pairs of handcuffs from the members that were knocked out and tied them up. Meanwhile, Crescent put on his top hat and regained his elegant form once more.

"What do you think of the name Crescent Xiao Long?"

"I think I'll have to decline, Crescent. You make a better thief than a husband."

His laugh echoed through the halls as he took a step out onto the window. "Fair enough, I'll leave you to deal with these people, I have to keep moving forward."

Yang's expression changed to concern when he mentioned moving forward, "Why are you helping us clear out the White Fang Crescent?"

He tipped his hat down, hiding his eyes. "A magician never reveals his secrets, Miss Xiao Long." With that he jumped off the ledge, his grapple gun already taking him away into the next location.

* * *

**Crescent**

* * *

Crescent was running down the hall, having jumped up one floor, scanning the area for the other White Fang members.

'_That's eight down, there's still seven more to take care of. Hopefully, the other girls haven't run into anyone else.'_

Blake's voice could be heard from the girl's radio frequency, "Girls, the Atlas police are on their way. The people are safe and I'm holding down the other three we captured here!"

Yang's voice could be heard right afterward, "Heading upfront now, Crescent and I just took down three White Fang guys!"

Pyrrha soon joined in, "Wait, he HELPED you? Wasn't he going for the Snow Angel?"

Weiss's voice seemed to filter in, "Don't trust him, he may just be trying to get our defenses down by helping us now!"

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Ms. Schnee!" he said to himself.

Making his way through the resort, Crescent noticed a particular red blur as it passed by. Knowing two people that would leave a red blur, he decided to investigate. Watching from a nearby vent, Crescent noticed the plucky young Ms. Rose, out in the open, weapon drawn.

"Put your weapons down and your hands up, I'm placing you all under arrest!"

The White Fang members simply turned and pointed their guns at the young officer, "Oh yeah? Three against one? Let's see how that works for you."

'_Yeah, let's help Ms. Rose shall we?'_

Suddenly all of the vents in the area started to open one by one, each one making as much noise as they possibly could. Both White Fang and Ruby started to look around for any signs of movements.

More vents opened up, the noises getting closer and closer. While all of them were looking outwards, Crescent was inside the vent, right above the terrorists, and with that vantage point, he placed a knockout bomb over the vent as he made his way over to the young officer. The bomb fell on them, the gas dispersing out into the three members, two of them immediately realizing what was happening and running away from the gas. One, however, stayed inside the gas and quickly fell to his knees.

Meanwhile Crescent shot out his grapple gun, this time aimed at Ruby, the wire wrapping around her before pulling her into a hallway. He could only hear the officer scream as she was suddenly dragged from her spot. The scream alerted the other members, focusing them on the "flying" Ruby. In Crescent's haste to pull her to safety, his wire accidentally tripped up a metal globe, leaving a more audible clue to where Ruby had gone.

Once she got back on her feet, Ruby looked around, watching where the cable holding her was going, to see an open vent. "Hello?"

"Evening Ms. Rose" the "vent" spoke back. "Figured you needed some help! Now quickly, take my hand!"

A white-gloved hand came out of the vent. Ruby scanned it and quickly ran towards it, jumping and placing her own in his hand. As soon as the loud clap of their hands sounded, Crescent pulled her up, quickly closing the vent under her as to not let anyone else see what happened. Officer Rose's followers managed to appear just as Crescent was closing the vent silently.

"So what's the plan Mr. Phantom Thief?"

"Kinda hoping you had one yourself Ms. Officer, you know apart from rush them and hope justice wins out?"

She glared at him, a small pout starting to form. That was until, the White Fang members walked past the vent, not bothering to check the vents.

"Want to make some magic happen Ms. Rose? I'm going to need you to set your phasers to stun!"

Ruby smiled and nodded, while Crescent pointed at another vent, one that was in front of the current moving White Fang members. While the officer moved, Crescent kicked open the vent he had pulled Ruby through, dropping himself down with a loud thud.

This caught his audience's attention, pointing the guns in his direction. Crescent raised his hands in surrender, "Say you wouldn't want a job change? I could definitely use an assistant in my jobs! Can't say I would be able to pay you though. I can say we would certainly teach those Schnees a thing or two."

Neither of them moved an inch, their guns still trained on the White clad magician. Before either could do anything else, Crescent sneezed loudly. At the exact moment that he did, Ruby dropped from her vent, her thud being as quiet as she could make it.

"Sorry, sorry you won't believe how weak I am to the cold. I get the sniffles instantly. Let me grab my napkin, I would hate for you to see me in less than perfect form."

Both of them kept their eyes trained on the magician as he pulled out a napkin and started to clean his nose. While he wiped, both of the members looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed.

"If you want to work for me, one thing you should always remember is the Magician's Code of Performance! Rule #1!"

Ruby's voice pierced the hallway, the two terrorists only now noticing the officer, "Everything is a distraction!"

With two precise shots, Ruby's gun was able to stun the two terrorists, both of them falling to the floor loudly. As both the officer and the magician started to meet once more, Ruby smiled at Crescent, "I'll admit, seeing their faces when I popped out of nowhere was pretty fun!"

Crescent smiled as he walked away from the bodies towards the main hallway, "Now you see why I do it often to you girls, it's good fun honestly."

His confident smirk fell as the first White Fang member that should have been knocked out with his bomb had just turned the hallway, his gun pointed at him. As he opened fire, Crescent threw out what he was saving for his escape- another smoke bomb.

Thankfully, all the shots managed to miss them both completely as they ran behind some sort of cover. The shooter ended up coughing loudly as he tried to step through the smoke that Crescent had left behind. While distracting, this gave Ruby the perfect sounds to locate exactly where the man was. It was with a running start that Ruby put all the force she needed on the metallic globe. Crescent heard a slight groan from an indent that the kick gave the globe and saw said object fly into the smoke like a bullet. The second the globe went in, a loud thunk could be heard along with the sound they had heard when the others dropped. Once the smoke cleared out, the other gunner was knocked out, the globe having a massive indent from where it had struck

"What the heck Rose? What did they feed you girls on the plane?"

With a small smirk, Ruby replied, "I was scouted out for soccer as well as track when I was still in high school."

A small whistle passed through Crescent's lips as he inspected the damage the young officer did to the man. "Well, I hope I can leave these to you? Make sure everyone gets out safely. I still have some company to meet elsewhere."

Taking a few steps ahead he stopped once more, "And Before you ask, yes I expect you, girls, to focus on me when I make my announcements, no one is allowed to steal a Phantom Thief's thunder."

"Is that some other magician code rule that you always follow?"

He laughed, "No, it's just common courtesy."

Ruby tied up the White Fang members, watching as Crescent moved on, his white cape fluttering behind him as he ran.

* * *

**Pyrrha**

* * *

Pyrrha watched as Weiss headed up the elevator to the restaurant, everyone else making sure that the other floors were covered, leaving her with the top floor aside from the restaurant. "Girls, status report!"

"Still no sign of the Atlas police, but civilians are safe and White Fang members are captured," Blake responded.

Yang continued, "Sticking with Blake here in the front, my own set of criminals being held down."

Ruby replied, "Crescent stuck me with White Fang movement! They're all knocked out, but I'm taking them with the other members."

Her eyes widened, "Wait, Crescent helped you too Ruby?"

"Yeah, he distracted them while I made magic happen!"

Pyrrha looked at her radio in disbelief, _'Why would he try so hard to keep everyone safe?' _

A door suddenly opened, pulling her inside the room. Before she could speak, a gloved hand covered her lips, "Hello Ms. Nikos, funny running into you here."

She tried glaring at him, but when she saw him, he was watching the hallways through the open door. "There's four more up ahead, don't make any sounds, they're coming."

He covered her with the cape, pulling it up to cover their faces, and she could see the golden arcs his cape held looking at her. Before she opened her mouth to say something, she heard the footsteps of what had to be the four intruders that Crescent had mentioned. Did the magician have a plan for dealing with all four of them? He had taken care of more sets of them, but that was with the help of Ruby, Yang, and Blake.

"Any plans Ms. Nikos?"

Pyrrha snapped back, shaking her head slightly, "No idea, if I was to shoot them with my stun gun, I think it would wear off before we can make it to them. With four targets, I don't think we can make any plans to take them out slowly. We need to take them all out in one swoop."

Crescent nodded and looked at the curtains that the room held. "I think I got an idea, but we need to time this right. I'm out of smoke bombs and only have one knock out bomb so whatever we do I can't really pull us out from it."

"Why don't you have more stuff on you?"

He knocked on his head softly, his face looking very familiar to another blond she knew. "Oh yeah, so sorry I didn't arm myself to the teeth for what was supposed to be a simple theft. Why don't you guys have more than just stun guns?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to answer, only to glare at him, "Point taken. So what's the plan then?"

"We charge them with this curtain and make our own magic happen!"

Pyrrha sighed, "Why is it always some sort of magic with you?"

Crescent smiled at her, 'Oh come on, you know love my magic!"

He grabbed the curtain and pulled it down, snapping it off the holders, quickly and silently folding it to a more manageable size. It seemed to magically disappear as he placed what was the curtain behind his back. Taking a look outside, he saw their targets, with their backs to them. "Okay come on, Pyrrha, if we have a chance to do this it will be sooner rather than later.

Not wanting to spend any more time waiting, they both dashed out of the room, the curtain still in Crescent's hands. As they ran Crescent started to fire his own gun at them, which Pyrrha noted was shooting cards rather than dust or even actual bullets.

Even though he was shooting cards, the impact they made on the grunt's hands was real. In a matter of seconds, Crescent's aim managed to disarm the White Fang members from their guns and just like that all the attention was focused on the running duo.

Just as easily as he had pulled it from the window it had covered, Crescent pulled out the curtain once more, and before they could react, he covered both him and Pyrrha from the view of their targets. A loud stomp had the White Fang members look around, even checking the top of the curtain to see where anyone was coming from. Only for Crescent to throw the entire curtain up, revealing only himself.

"And just like that, a woman has disappeared! Or has she disappeared?" the magician called out.

One of them looked up to the flying curtain, going over their heads, but it was cut short as the magician spoke once more. "Can you really spare the time to look at a curtain when your enemy is in front of you? One wrong move could be it!"

Their attention once more focused on the magician as a smirk spread across his face, "Sorry, guys but you chose poorly." In his hand, he held his last knockout bomb and with a smile he threw it in the middle of the four members as Pyrrha landed on the other side of the group, draping them all with the curtain. The bomb exploded, filling the curtain with the smoke and with it, letting the members inside breathe it all in. Shortly after they started to drop as the gas slowly took effect.

"Throw me across with the curtain so they don't notice me. How the heck did you come up with that plan?"

"I think I saw it in a show once, I'm glad it worked though."

"I'll take care of these guys, go and help someone else, after all, you keep helping everyone right? You going to explain that?" Pyrrha asked.

With a small smile, Crescent nodded and started to walk away, "Well I can't have you girls missing out on our games now can I?"

* * *

**Weiss**

* * *

Weiss Schnee walked into the Schnee Resort's restaurant, her eyes scanning the window and the doors. Just like before, the girls started to check on each other, but one thing stood out to her.

Pyrrha gave her an update, "Heading outside with four members, Crescent is heading your way, Weiss!"

The last part confused Weiss, Crescent heading her way?

It was then when another voice entered the air. "Schnee, I'm surprised you actually came up on your own. I thought you would send a faunus to do your job for you."

When she turned around, Adam Taurus was standing before her, a handgun pointed at her head. "At least you had the courage to not do that. I will commend you for that."

Jacques was knocked out on the floor close to the elevators, other than a simple bruise on his head he was unharmed.

A card shot out from the shadows, hitting Adam's hand perfectly, forcing him to jump back from the gun. He rubbed his hand as both Weiss and Adam stared at the magician.

Adam growled, "Why are you here? I would have thought a massive invasion of the resort would be the perfect distraction for you to steal your damn jewel! We could have dealt the Schnees a massive blow to their names!"

Crescent smiled and looked over both of them with a smirk, "Oh come now! Do you think I needed this to steal a jewel? I am the great Crescent, magician thief extraordinaire! My magic is a sight to behold, I would not shame myself in having others perform my own distractions. That's all this is, paying you back."

His smirk was quickly put away as Adam pulled another gun he had hidden away and started to fire at Crescent and Weiss. Weiss immediately dove behind a table, flipping it over hiding behind it. Crescent followed her actions, diving behind his own table. He looked over at Weiss who was eyeing the podium. Crescent nodded and shouted at Adam, "Why are you here? The Schnees are trying to help the world with their charity gala! Why mess that up?"

Adam turned to Crescent's table and shot at it, "What do you know about the Schnees thief? The Schnees only do this Gala out of guilt for treating the faunus the way they do! They may not like it, but this is the only way people can take the faunus seriously!"

Meanwhile, Weiss headed for the podium hoping the repairman didn't finish their work. As she heard Adam lambast the thief her table slowly rolled over to her target. Thanks to the massive distraction, Adam didn't notice that one table had moved from the center of the room to the elevator. She started the program to have the restaurant spin.

All of the windows opened, letting cold air fill in, bring in snow, covering the restaurant in white. It took that moment for Adam to stop firing for the restaurant to start spinning once more, this time it went out of control, the room spinning fast enough to start throwing the snow out. Fortunately for them, it was also strong enough to do as the repairman had told them and threw out Adam Taurus with the snow as well.

The room kept spinning out of control, almost throwing her out as well until a grappling hook caught onto her specialist jacket. Before she could get the hook off of herself, the wire pulled her into the middle of the room. When she stopped she was being held in midair thanks to Crescent, his other hand holding onto his other gun, pointed at the support beams that held the restaurant stable. When the spinning stopped itself, both of them watched as a swarm of helicopters followed where Adam had been launched, the spotlights turned on.

Weiss looked at the white-clad magician, her suspicions rising. "I'm certain you have heard this question before, but why did you help us?"

Crescent smiled widely and turned to face Weiss, "I can't have the other members of the game out of commission before we play our game. After all, I haven't gotten the Snow Angel after all."

Both of them managed to get both feet on the floor once more, both of them straightening themselves out. He kneeled before Weiss, his hand taking hers and bringing it up, kissing the back of her hand. "But, after seeing you, I wonder if I should steal you instead, you certainly do look like a snow angel yourself."

With a smirk on his face, Crescent fell out of the window, a paraglider expanding, letting him take to the skies once more.

Meanwhile, the rest of the girls stood in front of the resort, seeing the Atlas police and news show up on the scene. Without missing a beat, the news reporters quickly started to ask questions of all the girls and Winter.

"Did Crescent actually make an appearance?"

"What happened with Adam Taurus?"

"Which one is the Atlas police set on capturing?"

Question after question, while Winter had no answers. The police started to filter out the reporters as they continued to ask. That was until a voice called out to them.

"Sorry to break my word, Mr. and Mrs. Schnee, I will not be stealing the Snow Angel tonight. However, that doesn't mean I won't be back for it another time!"

All eyes turned to the roof of the resort as Crescent stood atop of them all, the girls seeing his smirk as he bowed to them. The reporters started to film him and just like an actor, his confidence only seemed to grow as cameras were pointed in his direction.

"Take care Atlas, for I will be back to captivate with my magic another time!"

With a puff of smoke, he vanished from the roof, his ability to disappear as keen as always.

_'Who is this guy?!' _Winter thought to herself.


	12. Snow Angel: Round 2

**Man time flies, you blink, and its already the next month! If anyone is reading my other story "Knight of Schnee" I will be trying to keep them both updated bi-weekly instead of monthly. Sorry to everyone, but hopefully I can keep myself on that schedule.**

* * *

Winter and Weiss met with the group in large about the invasion of their home. Winter kept them all in one of the meeting rooms, bringing in both water and snacks for the group. The walls a pale white, nothing on the walls in order to bring the attention of the inhabitants to the lone speaker. Her uniform as white as the walls around her, briefly skimming over the information that was being given to her.

"So he just comes in, says he'll steal a priceless gem, fights terrorists alongside the police meant to catch the thief, only to make his grand escape without stealing the said gem and not allowing himself any form of recognization. Did I get all of that correct?" Winter spoke, still baffled over the events of the day.

"Yep!" Ruby replied, ensuring to pop the p in her answer.

Weiss continued Winter's confused questioning, "Does he always do this?"

Blake shrugged, "Sometimes? It seems rather confusing what seems to go into his head. First, he wants to be the world's best thief, then he wants to be the one that saves us alone? I tried making something that would resemble a profile for him, but he never seems to stay consistent enough."

Weiss shook her head, her hands rubbing circles around her temples. "Great, we have no leads, no clue of his motives, and nothing that can point us in the right direction."

Pyrrha stared at the Schnee sisters, carefully studying them. It took her a moment to talk, but eventually, she did, asking them both a question. "What's so important about the Snow Angel? Is it worth a lot of money? Does it hold some sort of value to the Schnee family?"

Winter immediately shook her head, "The Snow Angel is only called that because of the clear white tint the gem has. It seems to be part of a few gems that require little to no polishing to reveal a gleam in it. A newspaper reporting on it called that same tint a "heavenly glow", hence why the term "Snow Angel" was made for the gem. It is more about its own appearance than any relation to the Schnee name. Why do you ask?"

Pyrrha's hand came up to her chin, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. "He always seems to target rare or expensive gems. He might not take them, but what if that's his goal? What if he doesn't really want to take the gems, just wanting to get famous for stealing said gem? Think about it, he makes it into a game, he tells us when he's going to strike, even down to the exact time! Who else would do that?"

Just as the group started to ponder the possibilities, another member of the Atlas police showed up at the door, knocking on the door softly before entering herself. She had long violet hair, much like Yang's, that seemed to cascade down her back and her own lilac eyes were looking down to the floor, timidly waiting for Winter to acknowledge her.

"Speak Ms. Scarlett." Winter instructed.

Under Winter's instructions, the other officer cleared her throat and quickly shuffled to her side. "This came in the mail for you Ms. Schnee. The guy who gave it to me tasked me with ensuring it was given expressly to you ma'am. After having the team double-check it for any sort of danger, I brought it right over!"

"Thank you, Ms. Scarlett." The said mail was a small envelope with a certain symbol everyone in the room was already familiar with. An emboldened set of double crescents plastered on the front, a wax seal on it holding its contents tightly. The paper was almost the size of a business card, yet it weighed more than it should have.

Winter opened the envelope, seeing a small greeting card with his symbol clearly on display. On the back of the card was what Winter considered a challenge. She read the card aloud to the entire team, as to not waste their time passing it around.

"**To the dearest Schnees, I apologize for last night. By no means was I taking part in the tragedy of the Manor. As a token of sincerity, how about another meeting in Atlas? Just be careful to not block the full moon."**

Yang was the first to respond, "Is he saying he wants you two to play his game too? I have to give him some credit, he sure is ambitious, getting sisters to join the fun."

Both of the Schnees looked at one another, almost as if having a silent conversation between them. While the Vale team looked at the two sisters, the room was silent until both of them smiled.

"Very well, Ruby, you and your friends are free to enjoy Atlas for tonight. I believe my sister and I need to gather our own intelligence. If this thief wants to play this game, then so be it. However, a Schnee never loses. I believe it's time to show this Crescent what happens when you mess with a Schnee."

Blake glanced between the two of them, "While it is admirable that you picked up the challenge, he didn't exactly tell you where or what he was stealing. Much less the time of the event. He does have a preference for 8 p.m. though. Might help you two if you knew little things like that.

"Thank you, Blake, but I believe Winter and I can handle one man. After all, Atlas Specialists are the best of the best when it comes to people like him who are driven exclusively by greed."

* * *

Meanwhile, Jaune laid on the bed of his hotel room, graciously donated by the Schnees for the Gala that he had barely escaped from. His eyes closed, he could hear Nora tinkering with the gadgets for his next heist. He knew what jewel he wanted to check out next. All he had to do was check up on said location. He could hear his friend muttering to herself about the wear and tear of the tools. "How do you even let the projector slip into the snow?" Nora questioned.

Jaune opened his eyes, his arms hoisting him up to meet blue eyes with her own. "Okay, that was an accident! I tried setting it on the roof so it would project me standing on the roof while I made my escape into the crowd, but when I set it up, it kinda didn't stick? I had to improvise and point the stupid thing at the roof so catch everyone's attention!"

Ren looked up from his own bed, book in hand, "Why not use an actual smoke bomb to catch their attention to the roof?"

Jaune sighed, "I ran out… I had to make sure the officers didn't get hurt with all those guns going around. Thankfully I didn't have to do much in that regard. I was the perfect distraction for them to get close and seal the deal."

"Well, at least you made sure that no one was injured during the sudden kidnapping of everyone."

"Yeah! You have to give yourself credit for that Jaune-Jaune! After all, the great Crescent could be hailed as a hero now! Didn't you want to be a great hero?"

Jaune nodded his head, "Great hero? I'm essentially a thief looking for the family heirloom guys… I'm no hero. Even when I tried, I couldn't even make it into the police academy as my dad did."

Nora stopped with her tools and hugged Jaune, "It's gonna be okay Jaune, just focus on what we can do for now. We have an entire week in Atlas. You can spend it hanging out here while Renny and I go out. We can do some Lotus business here and then go back to Vale."

Returning her hug was almost second nature with how many times she had given him the "sister" treatment. "Thanks, Nora, I have some plans already for the upcoming days."

His words couldn't escape Ren's ears, "As Jaune or Crescent?"

"Both?" His words were uncertain as his smile grew sheepishly. With a raised eyebrow directed right at him, Jaune's words came out more confidently, "Both."

Ren shook his head, a slight smile appearing on him. "Just be sure to be ready because in 2 days we have that skiing competition. Or at least you and Nora do."

Jaune stared out the window, hoping that the next day would be much better. After all, Crocea Mors was still out there.

* * *

The following morning team wandered around Atlas, the events of last night still lingering in their minds. Even as Ruby walked ahead, eyeing the buildings and trying to keep them upbeat by dragging them into several areas, Pyrrha kept her own mind busy with Crescent's "hint".

'_What does he mean, just don't block the full moon? Strangely enough, he has never given us a riddle to find out where he'll strike.' _

Each one of them tried to figure out what exactly Crescent expected from them, seeing how none of them knew the city and the only guides they did know were busy themselves trying to hunt down their thief themselves.

Yang's stomach growled loud enough for them to hear it, her face more annoyed than embarrassed at her stomach.

"Can we stop for lunch? I feel like I'm going to pass out here!"

Blake nodded, her hand instinctively going up to her own stomach, "Lunch sounds good actually. Are there any good places nearby?"

Ruby pointed at the closest restaurant they could see, noticing a particular head of blond hair going into the joint. As he opened the door, Ruby called out to him, her arm immediately waving at him.

"Jaune!" she shouted as she rushed at him.

Said blond turned around, a large smile spreading across his face as he waved back to them. His hand kept the door from closing as the team approached him. All of them packed themselves inside, going to higher floors in order to gain some sense of privacy.

Both Jaune and Pyrrha were seated by the windows, overlooking a good part of the city, including a certain building that seemed to attract attention. People were starting to flock towards the steps of the tallest building. Upon closer inspection from Pyrrha, she could see Jacques Schnee, separated from the crowd by a podium. There were several tv stations, reporters, around the podium, all seemingly dying to get the next scoop.

"Hey, can you tune in to what's going on down there?" Blake asked a waiter, after noticing the tv on the wall. The waiter just nodded and changed it, just in time for all of them to hear Mr. Schnee.

"I dare Crescent to try and steal the Snow Angel! We have the best protections in Atlas! He won't even come close to the Snow Angel!"

Yang snickered, "I guess Mr. Schnee is calling him out! Honestly, I didn't think there would be a moment in which someone would actively challenge an international thief to try and take their things."

Another reporter tried shoving a microphone on Mr. Schnee's face, "What makes you think that Crescent will actually come to "face" your challenge? What if he decides to not come?"

A smile crept upon his face, "The reason is simple, he wants the Snow Angel, and I'm telling him when and where he can come to pick it up! If he doesn't show up, then I will lock the Snow Angel in so much security that not even a mouse would be able to see the gem!"

Ruby looked at the television, "Is this what Weiss meant by not to worry about it? It seems like they want Crescent to steal the gem from them. What do you think Jaune?"

Jaune was still looking at the menu, barely taking his eyes away from the appetizer section before answering, "I mean if he wants to lose the gem, he's doing well. If Crescent doesn't want it then he won't show up. By the way, he's showing it off it would take someone that could fly to reach the gem anyway, so he really is stepping up security after the manor incident." With a small smile, he went back to looking at the menu.

All of their attention went back to broadcast, just in time to hear Jacques once more, "Apart from all the security measures, I have my own daughters protecting the gem itself. In conjunction with the Schnee company's own security teams, I am certain that no one will steal the Snow Angel tonight! So come and try your best Crescent! You won't get close!"

One of the news reporters questioned him further, "How do you know he will strike at the Schnee Tower? He supposedly sent out a warning of where he would end up, but was it a riddle correct?"

Jacques nodded, the wide smile on his face plastered confidently, "He mentioned something about not blocking the moon according to my daughter Weiss. Schnee tower is the only location in the city of Atlas in which no other building compares! It is the tallest building in Atlas which means so long as one is inside the Schnee Tower, the moon can always be seen from inside!"

Pyrrha looked up at the tv in amazement, "They actually figured out what he meant by his not blocking the moon comment?" she whispered.

Yang laughed, "Is there a way to tell Crescent to go for it? I would love to see this match go down! Nothing against your friend Ruby, but we all know Crescent isn't going to let a little thing like security slow him down!"

Blake raised an eyebrow at the blonde, "Someone is a fan of the criminal."

Yang quickly raised her hands, "Don't misunderstand me, Kitty. Crescent is one heck of an escape artist, but I'm sure we'll be the ones to bring him to justice! No one else is quite as awesome as me- uh us!"

Pyrrha laughed, having caught Yang's slip up, "I'm positive we'll catch him, we just need the right timing. There will be a time in which he messes up for whatever reason and when he makes that slight slip up, we'll be there to catch him."

Jaune put down his menu, a slight smile gracing his lips, "So you guys aren't going to be helping out this time around? I figured you would since Crescent is usually your thing?"

Ruby shook her head, "No, this time Weiss wants us to sit this one out."

Jaune kept his smile as he looked at the girls, "Well that sounds good! Let's see how good are the Schnees compared to you girls."

Focusing their attention back to the screen, they could see Jacques still talking about their "perfect" security. "I dare that thief to come and try to take the Snow Angel! He will be stopped here in Atlas! The long-running legend of Crescent will end here, by my own hands!"

Jaune thought to himself, "_We'll see about that, Mr. Schnee."_

* * *

That night, Winter Schnee was tasked with overlooking the Schnee Tower's own Snow Angel, all of the security measures left up to her to activate in whichever way she wanted. Having tested all of it, Winter was certain they could definitely catch that man no matter what.

What did catch her attention was Pyrrha walking into the Schnee tower, her own uniform on. "Miss Nikos? What are you doing here? I believe Father informed you that you and your team wouldn't be needed on this assignment."

Pyrrha nodded, her hands immediately clasping around her back, "Yes, but I really want to catch him, so I would appreciate it if I could help. My family has quite the history with this man, so if any chance comes up to take him down, I want to be a part of it."

Winter nodded, "Family obligations huh? I can respect that, very well. You may join us, but keep yourself available to any movements, whatever schemes that man has prepared we need to avoid them and counter him at any turn."

Just like in the other places, Pyrrha and Winter noticed the crowd of people that were outside of the Tower, all of them chanting, "Crescent, Crescent!"

"That man has fans?" Winter inquired.

Pyrrha nodded her head, "You wouldn't imagine the stuff he pulls, always within camera too. He's gained quite a following by just being himself." Checking her scroll Pyrrha noticed it was almost 8 p.m. "It's almost time, who knows how he plans to appear."

Winter looked at Pyrrha, before pinching her cheek harshly.

Pyrrha's cries of pain caused Winter to pull her hand away, "Sorry, but I needed to be sure about everything, even with you."

Pyrrha nodded, rubbing her aching cheek, "Speaking about taking care of everything, where's Weiss?"

Winter smiled as she looked onto her scroll, "She's supervising her own section."

As soon as it turned 8, everyone started to look around, hoping to see the caped magician appear. Many turned to the sky to try and see the recognizable hang glider that always took to the skies in these times. Although for Winter, it made sense that he refused to show up like that seeing how there was nothing but helicopters in the area that would make it near impossible for him to fly in.

That's when cards started to fall from the sky. Winter immediately had her officers look at what the cards said. Without getting close the people outside read them aloud.

"Three?"

"Two?"

"One!"

"_What are they counting down to?"_ thought Winter.

In a giant puff of smoke, way above the crowd, stood Crescent. The crowd cheered as the magician appeared from almost nowhere, but the detail that stood out the most was the fact that he was floating in midair!

"Hello, Atlas! As promised, I have arrived to showcase my own magic! Thank you to Mr. Schnee for figuring out where I was going to be. Where the Snow Angel was, ready for me to pluck it away!"

All the helicopters immediately focused on him, their lights shining on the magician, reporting back to Winter.

"He's just standing there! I don't see any wires or any platform to stand on!"

"Impossible!" Winter chastised, "He has to be on something! You can't expect me to believe the man is literally flying?!"

Pyrrha ran outside, joining the crowd, wanting to get a closer view of the "miracle" herself. The crowd went silent, wanting to see if Crescent would speak once more. It was because of the overwhelming silence that Pyrrha could hear the impossible. Whatever Crescent was on, whatever he was standing on, all of them could hear his footsteps ring as he started to walk towards the Schnee Tower almost like he was strolling in the local park. Each step rang true, each one getting him closer to the tower, almost like he was enjoying his moment in the limelight.

Whatever was happening it was perfectly set up, seeing how it captured everyone's attention. She noticed that everyone was looking at the impossibility that was being shown, even the helicopters were entirely focused on him. She then remembered Jaune's words. "_Magic is keeping your attention away from what a magician needs you to focus on."_

That's when it clicked for Pyrrha.

'_He wants us to focus on this impossible feat!'_

She quickly turned around, dashing back into the Tower, grabbing Winter by the sleeve. "He's not outside!" she exclaimed."Tell Weiss to ignore the magician outside!"

Winter looked utterly confused, "What are you talking about, I have several helicopters telling me that he's walking towards us."

Pyrrha shook her head, "That's nothing but an illusion! He wants our attention to be focused on what we would think is him flying through the air! Meanwhile, he's most likely already inside the tower, getting closer to the Snow Angel! This is rule number one for him: Everything's a distraction!"

Winter held Pyrrha's gaze and nodded, quickly relaying orders for the people inside the building to ignore the Crescent outside and focus on checking everyone inside the tower in order to find their target.

It was silent for a few moments, Winter and Pyrrha both scanning the building, entering different rooms, and keeping their coms on their signal.

* * *

Meanwhile, Weiss was looking over the Snow Angel as it sparkled in its case, Winters orders slowly reaching her, "Weiss, ignore the Crescent outside flying, Crescent may be inside the building already."

Weiss turned her gaze to the outside, seeing the flying magician. "If Winter's right then, we need to step up security."

"Understood Winter, I'll keep an eye out for anything."

She then turned her attention to the casing, looking around for anyone paying too much attention to the gem and not at their work. With all the guards standing around it, there was no other way to get close to the gem without her knowledge.

'_It'll be hard to get to the gem with all the security.'_ thought Weiss as she activated the electric field around the casing.

She could hear the lightning softly crackle around the case, telling her it was active, but it still wasn't enough for her. She activated her other security measure, a metal cage that encased the entire stand for the gem.

'_It wouldn't hurt to add more, just in case.'_

Weiss spoke into her earpiece, "The gem is still safe with us, Crescent isn't going to take it from us."

She could hear Pyrrha's warning, "No matter what, always make sure to see everyone and everything near it. Crescent works best when something is out of view. He's dressed up in the past, as Ruby in Vale, as Sun in Menagerie, and remember he was that Henry guy when we were all in the manor?"

Weiss nodded to herself, _'Crescent seems to work under disguise most of the time.'_

That's when Blake's idea hit her, "We need an additional security measure for the people, not the gem. The gem will always stay the same unless someone moves it."

She looked around the area, all of the officers appearing as normal as they could always look, their uniforms ironed and pressed up to the standards of Winter herself. The blue button-down shirts with the white accents around the seams, all of them fit their person well, indicating their body shape matched the uniform. None of the guards looked at the gem, keeping their eyes peeled for the magician they needed to find.

Weiss took advantage of the police officers doing their jobs to sneak up to one of them, _'I think I have the perfect way of figuring out who is Crescent.'_

Weiss tapped the shoulder of one of the officers, his tail wagging as she did.

"Yes Ms. Schnee?" the officer replied.

"Mr. Amin right?" she asked.

A slight nod of his head was his answer.

"What's your badge number Mr. Amin?"

The poor faunus looked at her, "I'm sorry what ma'am?

Weiss reiterated, "Badge number, what is your badge number?"

His hands moved to take his badge off of his uniform, Weiss's hand stopping it. "Don't look."

He looked lost, his eyes looking up to the ceiling as if he had written it on there, "789… Uhm. 31?" Weiss took off his badge and looked at it. He had missed one number, and forgot to mention the last two.

"Badge numbers are usually 7 digits."

"9 and 4, sorry ma'am I didn't really spend time memorizing it, I didn't know we were going to be quizzed on it."

Weiss nodded and kept her search. The next person was Elm Ederne, who also missed three numbers, this time switching the numbers around. Following her was Vine Zeki, who almost had his entire badge number down, for the exception of the second number. Each one of the officers that she asked, all of them missed their badge numbers for one reason or another, but that was okay. She attempted to remember her own badge number to have accidentally swapped the first and the last numbers.

It was only when she came to Officer Scarlett, that Weiss grew suspicious.

"Badge number?" she asked the violet haired woman.

"8927483, ma'am" she replied.

Taking off her badge, she found that the badge indeed showed her stated answer. "How long have you been in the force?"

"Just graduated from the Academy last month, ma'am."

Weiss smiled, handing the badge back, "Thank you. May I see your handcuffs? I hear they came out with newer models for the newest recruits."

Officer Scarlett nodded and happily gave her the handcuffs.

"Also did you know? The Academy didn't have graduation last month because of several issues. So there's no way you should be from that class."

Officer Scarlett's eyes widened. Weiss turned around pointing at her, "But it never made the news, so there's no way you could have known Crescent!"

Suddenly the lights went out, gaining everyone's attention as Weiss screamed out, "Crescent is disguised as Officer Scarlett!" A mechanical whirring could be heard from the gem's location.

Everyone's attention darted to where Weiss was, the lights coming back on. Officer Scarlett was standing in the same spot as she had been when Weiss had seen her, but now there was a certain magician inside the cage with the gem.

'_Why isn't he getting shocked? Why is the cage opening?'_

Her hand went to the scroll to see the electrical system was rebooting itself.

'_He didn't turn off the lights, he shut off the power of the floor! Most of the systems automatically disengage when out of power...'_

Officer Scarlett was standing next to the cage as it opened for all of them, Crescent already standing on top. Without a command, all the officers jumped on Crescent, trying to stop him from getting the Snow Angel. Weiss could see the scramble for the gem, but that was it. As soon as it started, all of the officers started to back away, the Snow Angel still in the case.

The only problem is that Crescent was nowhere to be found.

Officer Scarlett was also being held by two other officers, holding her back from doing too much. Weiss went up to the officers and attempted to remove a mask, only to find it wasn't there. Once she tried again, she figured out that it wasn't her.

Pyrrha ran in, her red hair and different uniform contrasting against all the Atlas officers. "I heard the lights went out here! Is the Snow Angel okay?"

Weiss nodded and pointed at it, "It doesn't appear to have been taken."

Pyrrha smiled and pointed up, "I'll take the upper floors to make sure he didn't run up."

Weiss watched her go, the gem completely safe.

* * *

Winter and Pyrrha could hear as Weiss reported back to them, "I thought it was Officer Scarlett, but it turns out that she wasn't Crescent. He appeared and tried to take the Snow Angel. Our officers stopped him this time thankfully."

Winter nodded and kept the officers on the premise while Pyrrha left off the premises, "Thanks to your help Ms. Nikos, we were able to keep the gem safe."

With a slight wave, Pyrrha made her way back to the hotel where the girls were staying at. That's when she heard a familiar voice. "Pyrrha?"

She turned around to see a blond man once more.

"Hello Jaune."

He smiled as they got closer, both of them talking as they walked away from the Schnee Tower.

_'Better luck next time Schnee.'_


	13. Fun in the Snow

Weiss Schnee couldn't believe what she was reading. In front of her was an envelope addressed to her of all people with a letter from that damn magician. It was just like the other envelope he had sent, the only thing that made it worse was the fact that it came with a certain gem inside.

She couldn't bear to look inside. She knew the Snow Angel was inside, but the only question was how? How did he manage to obtain it while the scramble was going on? She had personally watched over everything to ensure that nothing strange would be going on, but here she was watching the letter mock her.

"**Sorry Ms. Schnee, I hate to inform you, but this isn't the gem I was looking for. So as a token of respect, I would like for you to have it back. Hopefully, we can see each other, in the next illusion."**

* * *

"This guy is an asshole," she muttered as she guided the Vale team around Atlas. Ruby Rose stood next to her, patting Weiss on the back, the rest of the team following close by.

"And now you're one of us!" she cheerfully celebrated.

"Which part am I supposed to be happy about? The fact that he got away or the fact that he felt the need to return the gem after rubbing it in our faces that he got away?" she countered.

Yang laughed from the back of the group, "Well if it makes you feel any better, he's gotten away from all of us so there's no shame in losing."

Weiss looked back at her, "That's not the worst part. Did any of you accuse an innocent officer of being Crescent?"

Blake flinched, "How did she take it?"

Weiss shook her head, "Once we explained about Crescent's ability to disguise himself, she understood, but that's beside the point."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "Why did you accuse her of being Crescent though?"

Weiss scoffed, "She knew her badge I.D. perfectly. I thought it was suspicious and called what I thought was Crescent's bluff. Turns out, she was so happy to have graduated as an officer she kept polishing her own badge to a perfect shine. She did that so much that she engraved her own badge number into her head. To make matters worse, she was so happy because she actually managed to graduate from the academy early!"

Pyrrha shrugged, "Well if it makes you feel any better, Crescent didn't technically beat you? You just let yourself believe something else."

"Tell that to my father. He's not exactly happy, but also he seems to have more of a rivalry with the thief than you. He's going on about capturing Crescent himself in order to prove himself better."

Ruby nodded, "Well, that's good for us right? The more chances we get to capture him the better! Or better case scenario, if he does capture him, we don't have to worry about him anymore!"

"That'll be the day Ruby…" Weiss replied.

They kept walking until they reached the airport, the bullhead taking them to the mountains, the Lotus trio happily waiting for them.

Yang took the chance she had to make sure to slide at least one joke at Pyrrha's expense, "You think Magic boy is happy to see us or just you Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha shook her head as inched away from Yang and her teasing. "Not funny Yang!"

Letting all the other passengers go out first, the Vale team plus Weiss got their turn and started to walk outside, joining the Lotus team. Ren and Jaune waved at them while Nora was looking into her bag for something. While the group approached, Nora finally pulled out the thing she was looking for. The girls noticed that she seemed to pull out a small map of the area.

"Hey, guys" greeted Jaune. "It was nice of you to come and hang out with us."

Before Yang could say a joke, Blake's hand covered her mouth, "Of course, anything for our friends."

Ruby looked around, seeing very little going on, "So what are we doing here?"

Ren pulled out a flyer from his own pocket, handing it over to them. "Right now, Mantle is having several events as part of a festival they have going on. It's meant as a way to invite more people to come and visit Mantle, the cultural center of Solitas."

Nora chimed in, "There's going to be so much stuff! Nature walks, free skiing for those that want to learn, even some history stuff going on in the lodges around here! Several places are also going to have some games and food! Best of all, they're having a skiing competition that Jaune and I are totally going to win!"

Weiss scanned the flyer, "I think they do this every year, but I never really got much of a chance to attend."

Pyrrha nodded, "Then shall we go? It seems like we have a whole day ahead of us!"

As the two groups started to walk forward, Ruby moved herself to meet up with Nora and Jaune as they walked, "Did you guys have something amazing planned for the skiing competition? You just must have some sort of routine right?"

Nora pointed at Jaune, her smile going from ear to ear, "We have me, and we have Jaune the magician! We'll pull a rabbit out of someone's hat if we need to! I just know we're going to win!"

Jaune laughed, "I'm surprised you're not mentioning our secret weapon."

Ruby's eyes lit up at that moment, her steps turning more into hops, "Secret weapon?! Tell me!"

Ren smiled as he pulled Ruby back, "If we do, it won't surprise you."

Yang laughed as they moved, "Telling Ruby any type of secret won't end well. She can't keep one to save her life!"

Ruby pouted as she turned to Yang, "They're not supposed to know that!"

Pyrrha laughed at the antics of the team, "Hopefully, today will just be us relaxing. Dust knows that after yesterday's incident with Crescent, I need a break."

Nora skipped ahead of them, "What do you mean Cresent? I thought it was only the Schneesters that were facing up again Crescent."

Weiss's attention immediately shot towards Nora, "What did you call us?"

Meanwhile, Yang was laughing herself silly, high-fiving Nora, "That was amazing Nora!"

Nora smiled sheepishly, "Schnee Sisters? Schneesters? Get it, Weiss?"

"I do not appreciate being labeled as a "Schneester", both Winter and I have proper names for you to use."

Blake quietly snickered in the back of the group, trying to hide herself a bit.

The whole group continued towards the lodge, Nora telling them about the other events happening around the mountains. The one she seemed fixed on was that skiing competition. Which lead to the big question Yang had. "Nora, you keep saying you and Jaune, why aren't you and Ren entering?"

Jaune smiled as he explained, "Ren is more of an observer when it comes to skiing. He can't really stand the cold."

Ruby bumped Yang with her shoulder, a wide smile on her face, "That sounds familiar." Yang rolled her eyes as she looked back at the tiny officer. "Not cool Rubes."

A small laugh followed them into the lodge as Ruby was smiling wide at her sister's expense. Blake was the first to notice all the excitement in the lodge as several people started to move outside onto the ski lift.

"Looks like people are starting to move outside."

Ren was the one that filled in that blank, "Yea, the first of the skiing competitions are starting. The better skiers, that tournament is for those that actually practice their craft. Nora and Jaune entered the novice one, so we should have time before we have to go up there."

Pyrrha examined the course, seeing several jumps and obstacles that all of them would have to maneuver around. "Will you two be okay? That's a lot to handle at once if you don't know what you're doing."

Nora waved her off, "Ren and I used to ski before, well not ski, but sliding down the grassy plains in Mistral is somewhat like it."

Jaune kept it going, "My family used to go to Argus for vacation, they had this great place to ski. Most of it was to prepare those going to Atlas for the leisure activity, but that counts!"

Yang slammed her hand on his back, "That's the spirit, you guys gonna win this thing?"

All Jaune could do was give her a thumbs up, almost coughing up his lungs.

Ren scooted away from Yang, while she smiled happily.

Blake turned her attention to the Lotus team, "Did you guys have any plans for any events in the upcoming weeks?"

Ren nodded, his face almost eager to discuss more events. "Of course, we'll be heading back to Vale for a bit since we do need to check on some issues there, maybe a week or so. Then we might be able to go to Vacuo to do more for the people there. So we'll be around, and who knows? Maybe we can get more people to join us. I know the people that joined us in Menagerie are currently doing their thing there and helping out."

Blake nodded along, "Wow, you guys are very busy."

Nora hugged Ren, "It all does go a long way in helping people, and that's our business. Well, apart from my craft business! I have the best promo for us in store!"

Ruby immediately went up to her, almost jumping with anticipation, "Tell me!"

"Nope! That would ruin the surprise!"

Ruby pouted, "Aww, come on!"

Yang had to pull her away from them, a light chuckle coming from her, "Sorry, a certain someone didn't really grow up."

With that, they all sought out the activities in the lodge.

* * *

Jaune paced around in the changing room after Nora had given him his costume. "You can't really expect this to work Nora! They'll know it's me!"

Nora laughed, putting making sure her own outfit was perfect. "It's fine Jaune! They won't suspect a thing! Just go out there and perform your little heart out!"

"That's the problem! If I look too good, then that's it! One wrong move and I give myself away!"

Nora dismissed his concerns, a happy smile greeting her back as she stared at herself in the mirror. "You look amazing in the costume, you don't need to worry your pretty little head about it Jaune-Jaune!"

Nora's happiness nor her faith in her place was giving Jaune any type of hope in her plan. "All you did was make my yellow accents blue! That's not hiding much! At least let me wear Ren's face!"

Nora immediately shut that plan down, her tone still happy, but now growing more sisterly. "The girls already know Ren isn't going to participate! Showing up as him is telling them Crescent is here!"

"And a tall blond magician in a white suit isn't?"

"It'll be fine! I'll be wearing a similar suit!"

"Yours has pink!"

"Similar, not identical! Plus I already signed us up saying we would be dressing up like Crescent!" Nora gave Jaune the biggest smile she could, being at least somewhat guilty with it.

"You what?!" he cried out.

"Let's go Jaune! It's almost showtime!" With a mighty pull, she dragged the poor Magician out onto the snow.

Typing out a message from his phone, Jaune hoped to at least mitigate Nora's own plan.

* * *

**Contestant #18! Neon Katt and Flynt Cole dressed as The Princess Locked in the Tower and her Knight!**

Pyrrha watched as the other competitors went down the slope, the two of them sticking to the snow as much as possible. Few of all of the people ever caught any air, instead just going side to side across the snow. Some brave souls even managed to use the railing to coordinate themselves.

'_It seems harder with two people, maybe that's why no one does anything big?' _she thought to herself.

Her eyes wandered from the snow to her surroundings, a chest-high fence, colored brightly blue as the Schnee Dust company logo was plastered all over it. Said fence housed the track, going all the way up to the top of the hill, where the contestants would come down from.

She managed to catch Ren walking back to their "place", a small section of the bottom of the hill where people were allowed to view the competition. She could hear the announcer from the system they had set up, speakers set up at the bottom with them.

"Is it almost Jaune and Nora's turn?" Ren asked.

Yang gave him a thumbs up.

A sudden ping alerted them to Ren's scroll as he read a message. Joining the other girls, he put away his scrolls and looked at the Vale team. "Jaune asked me to tell you guys to not arrest him."

Suddenly the team silenced themselves. Meanwhile, Ren had everyone's attention focused on him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Weiss.

"**Contestant #19! Jaune Arc and Nora Valkyrie as Crescent!"**

The last word the announcer said alerted them all to what their focus should be. They weren't the only ones as everyone in the crowds starting to point at the top of the hill. At the top was Jaune and Nora, both of them in a white suit, the only difference between them was the highlights in their suits. Jaune was wearing blue while pink was donned all over Nora.

Both suits were made perfectly, almost tailor-made for them. To make matters worse, both of them seemed identical to Crescent's actual suit. If she didn't know any better, she could have probably mistaken Jaune for being Crescent. After all, he did remind her of the Phantom Thief when he was a blond magician.

Yang was the first to speak, "Nora is really taking this as a chance to advertise that shop she opened for you guys? The one that was supposed to sell Cresent knockoff outfits?"

Ren took a large sip of his coffee, his eyes rolling as he did, "She made both suits for them for this reason. I believe her exact words were "if I'm making these copies, then I'm going to be Crescent too"!

Ruby was the one that happened to ponder aloud, "Is it just me or does Jaune kinda look like Crescent?"

Yang laughed, missing Ren's nervously shifting eyes, "Just cause he's blond? Jaune's cool, but there's no way he can be Crescent! He's just too dorky!"

Pyrrha nodded along, "Yeah Ruby, I doubt he's actually Crescent." Just to be on the safe side, she took out her scroll and decided to record the performance.

Yang, however, didn't miss that action and started to get closer, whispering over to Pyrrha, "Awww you two would be cute!" Blake pulled her back, trying to rein in Yang while Pyrrha blushed slightly. She really shouldn't, given how often Yang pulls that one joke of hers.

With all eyes on the pair, the two Crescents started their run down the hill, everyone seeing what the Crescent imitators were going to do. Without fear, they both took the slanted ramp and took to the skies, their own movements in sync as they pulled themselves back for a backflip before hitting the snow.

Their skis hitting the powder, they continued on their descent, until a smirk came across Nora's face. She spoke to Jaune about dust knows what then pointed at their group. Jaune quickly took Nora's hand and just like the first time they started to move, but when they took to the air once more, that's when their positions changed.

Jaune spun them both around himself letting Nora situate herself. As they came out of their spin, Jaune hed her in a bridal carry as his skis hit the snow again. Nora quickly started to cling onto Jaune as he took control of their routine, his skis grinding against the rails and easily weaving through the obstacles on their way down. It was quickly apparent that Jaune was showing off for the judges seeing how Nora was laughing in his arms.

Then she pointed at the biggest jump there was in the course. Everyone held their breath as Jaune quickly directed them towards the jump, almost uncaring of the distance they would travel. With his form crouched low, they gained more speed while Nora seemingly cheered him on. It was only a matter of seconds before Jaune ended up at the jump, ready to take it on.

The whole group watched him take off with Nora in his arms. Once in the air, Nora jumped off of Jaune and held one of his hands, both of them flipping forwards to look at the judge's table. To everyone else, both Crescents were just enjoying the air time.

It was strange, but Pyrrha noticed a very similar smirk on his face. It reminded her of the time they were on the airship to Menagerie but also reminded her of some other time. She took a small video of that too, while she had her scroll out. Hopefully, she could piece together where had she seen that smirk of Jaune's.

Both Jaune and Nora landed perfectly on the ground, crossing the finish line as people cheered them on. Ren was the first to run up to them as they moved to where the crowd was. Without hesitation, Ren pulled Jaune towards him and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Nora?" he asked.

"Who else?" Jaune answered back.

* * *

The Vale team saw as Nora and Jaune went up on stage and accepted the 1st place prize. The announcer was a small mouse faunus woman in a Schnee Dust Company logo emblazed jacket and a skirt, both in their colors.

Both of them were handed a small Beowolf figurine. It was stamped with the Schnee Dust company logo and shared its white and grayish color scheme.

"Thank you for participating! It was marvelous to see your run! We hope to have you again next year!" As the announcer was leaving them, Nora took the microphone and practically screamed into it.

"Thank you, everyone! This was a blast! Hopefully, we can do this again sometime, but for now?"

She grabbed the rim of her hat, pulling it slightly down to cover part of her face, "We'll see you next illusion!"

Both of them jumped off, taking their prizes with them. Nora's laughter could be heard as they started towards the changing rooms once more.

"Well, that was a thing" Yang laughed.

Blake rolled her eyes, "Anyone else noticed this whole thing was sponsored by the Schnees?"

Weiss coughed into her hand, "Yes, well mother likes hosting all sorts of events around Atlas and Mantle. That being said, will you all stay longer or would it be time to return to Vale?"

Ruby nodded, "Yea, I think it's time to head back. We haven't gotten any other leads about Crescent, so we have to go back in order to make sure we didn't miss anything back there.

Weiss nodded, "Very well, in such case, would you all mind if I tag along? As I mentioned, my father is very vocal about his chances of capturing this Crescent fellow. As such, I wish to lend my aid to the team responsible for capturing him."

With the biggest smile on her face, Ruby hugged Weiss tightly, "Yes! We have another member of team Vale! My bestie, better than the restie is joining us!"

With a playful roll of her eyes, she chided Ruby, "I thought I told you I did not like that nickname Ruby!"

Feeling her scroll vibrating, Pyrrha pulled her scroll, the screen showing an unknown number. Despite not knowing who was on the other end, she knew it would probably be some sort of sales pitch. All she would have to do is tell them to not bother her and they would take her off the list.

"Hello?" she answered.

The only response she got was, "Turn on your video chat Ms. Nikos."

As much as she hated to admit, she knew the voice quite well. "What do you want Crescent?"

"For you to turn on the video."

Blacking out her own scroll screen she switched the call to video, only to see another Crescent card on display.

**Hope to see you lovely ladies in Vale soon, in one week, Beacon Academy itself will be our playground. That night, I'll whisk away the Fall Maiden.**


	14. The Beginning of the Fall Maiden

It didn't take long for the news to pass over to the rest of the team thanks to Pyrrha. The news killed the happy mood that the girls were having up until then and now all of them were sitting on the bullhead to Vale, trying to make sure they had everything they could want to be covered.

"Are you sure it was him Pyrrha?" Blake asked.

Pyrrha gave her a small nod, the answer not being what she wanted to hear, "Yeah, despite everything I remember his voice extremely well. I know it was him. Plus he showed me his usual Crescent calling card, haven't seen many fake calling cards around."

"And he said Beacon University?" Ruby continued.

Pyrrha continued, "Yeah, that's the location of his next heist. He said he was going after the Fall Maiden."

This comment caught Weiss's attention, "That's strange, why the Fall Maiden? If he wanted to steal part of the Maiden set, then why not start with Winter? He was already in Atlas! If he wanted the element of surprise, then why tell us? None of this makes any sense…"

Yang shrugged her shoulders, "It's almost like he has a time limit in these places. Or no say in where he'll be?"

Blake immediately shut that idea down, "So, you're saying that the Great Phantom Thief Crescent is asking their mom or dad for a ride to specific places? Despite him showing up in Menagerie, Vale, Atlas, and now back at Vale? No… It seems more likely that he's doing this to throw us off. Can't predict where he'll show up if we can't see a pattern. He likes knowing that he's setting the time and place. With no clear line, we have to wait until he tells us, and even then, its usually with so little time that we can't just ambush him with traps."

Ruby was looking outside the window, passively listening to the conversation, "Well, this time we have a week? Why not set up something for him there?"

Weiss nodded along, "We do know what he wants this time and where the said location is to be. We could gain the upper hand now!"

Pyrrha put her finger on her chin, thinking about the proposal, "Whatever we decide on doing, we better make it quick. I have a bad feeling about this. He said it was gonna happen in about a week. He never said we had a week before this happens."

* * *

Meanwhile, Jaune was looking over the pictures from Atlas, disinterested in them. His mind was racing, unable to concentrate on anything except his next heist. After all, he still hadn't found Crocea Mors. The Arc family's gem. His father had said that the Arc family had received it from the King of Vale himself and with it stapled the Arc family into history. With it gone, they had lost part of their history. The list that he had found containing the original targets for Crescent was dangling in front of him. Several of the names had been crossed out thanks to him, but he was no closer to finding it.

"I guess we can cross off Snow Angel from the list… Why is this thing so hard to find?"

Ren wondered aloud, "How do you even know if the gem is or isn't what you need Jaune?"

Jaune looked at both his friends and got a fake gem he had made for Snow Angel heist. "According to my dad, each one of these historic gems had the family's symbol put inside of it. For the Arcs, it's our double arc emblazoned inside the gem."

"Isn't that the same symbol that you use for your Crescent stuff? Isn't that just guiding the police to you and your family if someone else was to find it?" Nora supplied.

Jaune shrugged, "No one knows how to find said markings other than the family that received said gem. I even take care not to be seen checking the gems for that reason."

"How do you check them?" asked Ren.

"If I remember right, only Mrs. Belladonna has seen me check it, and she already knew about it from Dad."

He picked up the gem and looked into it, resting his finger on the top of the gem, his thumb steadying the gem by holding it by the pointy side. "The top part here is called the "table" of the gem. The bottom, or what people usually call the pointy side is called the "culet". You need to stare into the culet at the table of the gem. Inside the gem is the Arc twin crescents in their golden glory."

Nora took the gem ad looked inside the fake gem, "Wouldn't the gem be the same color or shape all the time? Why look for it?"

Jaune shook his head, "Crocea Mors only had that arc inside it as its distinct feature, so if anyone was to color it a different color well enough they could pass it off as another gem. That's what dad thought happened to it, hence why Dad had to take up the Crescent name. I have his list of gems he narrowed it down to, but so far it doesn't seem like any of these are the right one. Hopefully, it's one of these "Maidens" sets of gems."

Ren put a hand behind his friend's back, trying to comfort him. "You'll find it soon Jaune. Anything you need from us, you got it."

Nora joined his other side and hugged them both "We'll help anyway we can Jaune-Jaune."

Jaune smiled brightly, "Thank you guys, that means a lot to me."

He grabbed his scroll and looked at the news, scrolling through it all, stopping when he came across a report of the Fall Maiden. His eyes scanned the website, soaking in all the information, and then releasing a sigh.

"For this heist, however, we'll need more help than just us."

Ren and Nora looked over to his scroll, the caption catching their attention.

**Fall Maiden under Sustrai's protection.**

* * *

Pyrrha looked over the security for the Beacon University, double-checking the bottom of the display case for a completely sealed base. She had learned to leave as few things as nebulous as possible with Crescent. That man could make his escape from the smallest crack in the wall. Surprisingly, it was something she should have learned from her father, the man having told her several times. No better teacher than experience it seems.

In the middle of setting everything up, a woman appeared with the team, watching over their setup. Ruby and Yang kept a careful eye on her as she walked. Blake and Weiss were wondering as to why the suspicion.

"Do you believe you have any better chances than your father did Miss Nikos?"

Pyrrha smiled politely at the woman, taking her eyes off the preparations, "Of course Miss Goodwitch. It's only a matter of time before we capture Crescent and seal this case closed. Besides, this isn't the same Crescent you faced before with my father. It seems to be a copycat or maybe even Crescent's own son taking up the title. I'm positive that we should be able to handle him. After all, we have help from Atlas and Menagerie."

Glynda seemed to look at all of them, taking a deep breath she shook her head.

"Numbers you do have Miss Nikos, my concern is with the experience in those numbers. While you may outnumber him, none of you seem to know much about the boy outside of what he wants you to know."

Yang's face broke out in a confident smirk, "We learned lots from his heists, including the importance of getting the drop on your opponents! Which is something we're doing now!"

Blake grabbed her shoulder before she could keep going, "Careful Yang, you don't want to let slip all the details."

Ruby eyed Glynda suspiciously, "Yeah, we wouldn't want Crescent to know about our plans!"

If she was offended Glynda didn't show signs of it, "What are you trying to say, Miss Rose?"

Pyrrha jumped in, "There were accounts of you helping Crescent in another heist that was made here in Beacon University."

Glynda rolled her eyes and pinched herself, "You girls never found out about what happened afterward did you? The police found me locked in a classroom from the outside. I wasn't able to escape. I can only assume that Crescent had an accomplice dress up like me for that stunt. I imagine that even Crescent would have a hard time disguising himself as me when the police were after him that night."

The girls did go back to work, but kept a sharp eye on the woman, making sure she didn't do anything suspicious. One of them always stayed with Glynda for that reason, none of her actions being anything but helpful to the team.

As night seemed to drape the school's courtyard in darkness, the girls used the courtyard's own lights as a way to keep working without only time that anyone left the premises was Yang leaving on Bumblebee to get them all food from Velvet's restaurant. Pyrrha stood tall, overseeing the trap that was being prepared. Beacon's middle lawn was perfect for their battle this time.

They had used the courtyard as their location, seeing how it was open and the only escape would be through the ground. Unless Crescent would try to fly like the original did several years ago, he wasn't leaving. Even if the man could fly, Blake and Weiss were going to be on the fire escapes of said buildings. Nothing had been missed. All of the police in attendance were hand-checked by them, including Glynda.

"Crescent will be captured tonight."

That's when a hat flew over all the girls, catching their eyes. It was a familiar white top hat with a golden ribbon. A single voice rang over the night sky.

"That's very bold Miss Nikos! Let's hope that we can play someday."

The girls looked around for him, not seeing the white suit that always hid him. He was nowhere to be found, the only thing that Pyrrha saw was her own team the man himself. None of them seemed to find him, but Blake and Weiss did run off to the escape exits in order to keep up their plan of boxing Crescent in their trap.

There was little to no sound coming off as the team enacted their plan, but Crescent was nowhere to be seen. There was a subtle breeze, but hardly anything to her. Pyrrha checked her scroll for the time and it was closer to being seven than eight, nowhere near the time for Crescent's usual heists, so why was the distraction already present? That's when she heard it.

"Pyrrha, nice of you to join me."

She turned around to see the white cape flowing in the wind.

His face was looking out to the city of Vale, Pyrrha only being able to see a profile of the man. Yet she could still see his smiling face. Twirling his grapple gun on his finger he started up the conversation.

"Ms. Nikos, glad you could make it to tonight's game. Yet, I think you misunderstood what I wanted from you."

"What are you talking about Crescent?"

"Haven't you noticed an important detail about our game? Namely, we're missing the Fall Maiden. You haven't been told where it is right?"

Pyrrha thought about that information for a while, the team not having been told. Even Glynda didn't seem to know about the Fall Maiden.

"Read the news, Ms. Nikos. It's currently on the way to the outskirts of Mistral. Sadly, I'm not the only one out to retrieve it. Word spreads around fast officer. There are lots of people that would love to have the Maidens. "

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "People like an international jewel thief?"

"Exactly. Or perhaps corrupt security, trying to sell it for profit."

"Why warn me? Our job is capturing you, not protecting every gem that was made."

Crescent stopped twirling his gun and pointed it at Pyrrha's feet, shooting out a card. Pyrrha, on the other hand, didn't even flinch, knowing that he wasn't going to hit her with whatever he would shoot out.

"Isn't it simple Ms. Nikos? I'm planning to steal the Fall Maiden, but I can't do it alone, not this time."

Pyrrha glared at him, having an idea of where he was going with his words. "And you think one of us will help you steal the gem? I think you missed the part where our job is to capture you Crescent."

"All I'm asking for is a temporary truce. Help me get it to Beacon safely and then we can figure out the rest."

"Or I can arrest you now and wait for the Fall Maiden in peace."

Crescent snickered at Pyrrha's comment, drawing her attention even more. "Sure, if you believe that the Fall Maiden will make it to Beacon."

"Are you saying that the security the Fall Maiden is given won't be enough?"

"I'm saying Miss Nikos, that Sustrai is not to be trusted. I dug into her past, and every one of the gems she's tasked to cover both arrive and are sold in the black market as the original. Needless to say, one side is lying and I don't like the odds."

Pyrrha shook her head in disbelief, her arms crossing in front of her. "So you decide to be the hero now why?"

Crescent tipped his hat forward, "We can't have our game if we have no prize don't you think?"

Pyrrha let out a big sigh, "Why should I trust you won't disappear on me as soon as we get the gem?"

Crescent shrugged his shoulders, "Have I ever given you a reason to doubt me, Miss Nikos?"

Her reaction was to simply roll her eyes.

Crescent smiled and put his gun away, a hand reaching into his pocket. "Just tell me one thing, would you like to work with Ms. Belladonna or Ms. Xiao Long? Maybe with yourself?"

With a puff of smoke, Pyrrha lost Crescent, or so she thought. When the smoke cleared a smug smirk was plastered on his face. For Pyrrha though, it was like looking into a mirror. He even managed to get her long ponytail down, making him an identical copy to her.

"I'll keep in touch. Until then Miss Nikos." As she stretched her hand out to try and grab him, she jumped back as he pulled out a large cloth from his pocket and launched it at her. Said cloth then burst into smaller squares that covered her sight.

When Pyrrha managed to get them out of her face, she didn't see Crescent anymore. She searched the roof of the building thoroughly, ensuring that he didn't just hide in a part of the roof and then brought up her radio.

"Girls, did any of you see Crescent?"

Ruby answered immediately, "He was here? I have been at the main entrance and nothing strange happened here."

"Blake at the west wing, same here. No sign of him."

"Weiss reporting in from the east side, I haven't seen him,"

"Yang at the south side of Beacon. I got nothing."

Pyrrha muttered to herself, "Then how the heck did he manage to slip in and out?"

Her eyes wandered to the card that was slightly embedded into the roof of the building. It was another calling card of his, this time the words weren't a challenge like they usually are. Instead, they were more like a plan discussed.

"**I'll see you, girls, on the airfield. We'll be boarding the blimp called "Horizons".**

* * *

Meanwhile, Jaune slipped out of the building he was in, fully decked out in his bunny hoodie and jeans. This time the fire escape was easy to drop into, but he still had to be careful. After all, Crescent is supposed to slip through all the cracks, small or large. Thankfully, he managed to get the officers to help him out. He just needs his disguise to get into the airfield himself. His dad had mentioned an old friend sometimes. That could be his ticket in.


	15. Fall Maiden: Sustrai or Crescent

With the events of that night still fresh on their minds, the girls went back to the station in order to regroup and for their "leader" to fill them in. Pyrrha scanned the card over and over again, thought the card never changed in any way, much to her dismay. During the car ride back to the station, she started to lose herself in her own thoughts.

'_What is his game? He wants the gems, but at the same time, he wants to protect them from anyone else? Now he wants to steal the Fall Maiden from Ms. Sustrai and return it to Beacon himself, only to fight us again to steal it? None of this makes any sense… then again, never did he.'_

Upon arriving, it didn't take long for the girls to start questioning her. All of them sat around Pyrrha's desk, Ruby pulling up a chair, Weiss and Blake were standing and Yang was set pacing around the desk. All of them in the middle of the room yet felt oddly isolated with everyone else gone for the night. The only person in the department that wasn't patrolling was Alexander Nikos.

"What happened out there? There was no Crescent, but apparently, you spotted him?" questioned Blake.

Weiss continued, "What's with the card you have there?"

Yang picked it out of Pyrrha's fingers, not getting any resistance from her.

"Looks like one of Crescent's, but it has directions?" the blond asked.

Pyrrha simply shook her head, "I don't get that man sometimes, but long story short, he wants our help to steal the Fall Maiden from this Sustrai person and help deliver it to Beacon so then he can try and steal it from us."

Ruby perked up from her seat, "We're not going to do that right?"

A gruff voice called out to them from the station, "I sure hope not! Crescent is as cunning as he is show-boaty. Don't let that face distract you."

All of them turned to see the man that had just walked in. Taller than Yang and essentially towering over Weiss, the man's crimson eyes scanned the whole team as he shuffled his way inside, taking a small drink from his hidden flask.

Ruby and Yang almost tackled the man as he strolled into the office.

"Uncle Qrow!" they both cried out.

He braced himself for the incoming hugs and held each girl differently. Qrow's arm wrapped around all of Ruby's body, the smaller of the two girls hugging his chest entirely while hugging Yang from the side.

"How are my favorite nieces?" he asked.

Ruby piped up, "We're working on the Crescent case!"

The man simply laughed, removing his hand from Ruby's back and ruffling her hair with it, "I said how are you doing, not what."

Yang smiled as Ruby flipped her hair back, "So far so good Uncle Qrow. I thought you were out on your special assignments?"

Qrow shrugged, letting the two girls go, "I was, but a certain someone told me that my nieces were taking on the Phantom Thief himself. Figured you would need some help."

Ruby pouted, "It wasn't mom, was it? She knew about this since before we left for Menagerie."

Qrow shook his head, "No, not Summer. Why you haven't asked her to help is beyond me, but it wasn't her that brought me in. In fact, it wasn't someone's _mother_ that asked me to help."

Both girls slapped the faces with their hands, "Dad?!"

Qrow laughed, removing their hands from faces, "No, not Taiyang, he wouldn't even know how to help. Poor man's dealing with his other students in classes."

It was then that Alexander's voice bellowed out from his office's direction.

"Qrow! So good of you to come!"

"Kind of hard to not come back when someone mentions my nieces needing me Alex."

Pyrrha's head snapped back to see Alexander, "Father, you called him to help?"

"Crescent has been pulling the wool over your eyes several times, I figured it would greatly help to have at least two of the four veteran team to help you against him."

"Veteran team?" Ruby asked.

"Kali Belladonna, Summer Rose-" Blake began.

"Alexander Nikos and Qrow Branwen" continued Pyrrha.

"The original team to be chasing Crescent" finished Qrow. "The best too, after all, we slapped the cuffs on him several times." His face appeared lost as he kept speaking, "Could never figure out how he managed to escape out of a police car that one time."

Yang raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, well apparently he wants to work with us to steal the Fall Maiden. How would you guys go about taking care of that?"

Qrow took another drink from his flask, "I know Summer would tell you to do so, because that way you could find out more about him and how he works, but the man's not exactly hiding his methods. The only thing he seems to hide is his "magic", and even that can be figured out if you know what to look for. That's the harder part."

Weiss crossed her arms, chiming into the conversation, "Okay then, how would you suggest we proceed?"

Qrow lazily glanced at Weiss, putting away the flask, "Simple, we do it old school and hunt him down ourselves."

"We'll be interfering with another person's protection services though," Blake butted in.

"Leave that to dear old Uncle Qrow," pointing a finger at himself as he spoke. "I'll get us on that ship."

That was how the girls and Qrow managed to get onto the airfield of the "Horizons" alongside the other members of the security team. Emerald looked over a list of guests that were boarding the ship for a flight to Vale. Every single person that was coming in had to be thoroughly checked in order to make sure that Crescent wasn't hiding as one of them.

It was because of this set up that the Vale team had to answer to her when they asked for entrance onto her ship. All of the girls were stopped by Emerald herself, taking a quick glance at the team after hearing their request.

"Yeah, no. I'm sorry, but I'm not letting any of you onboard. The fewer variables I have on my ship the better chance we have against Crescent." She noted.

Ruby stared at her, "But we're the Crescent experts! We know all of his moves one way or another."

Emerald shook her head, a small sigh coming from her lips, "And what exactly do you have to prove that? He's no closer to being captured than he was when you all started this crusade against him. If I didn't know any better, I would probably say one of you is Crescent dressing up to help the others possibly avoid working on other jobs!"

Blake retorted, "That's not even close to fair, by that logic, anyone who stood by and let him steal is also Crescent."

"In any case," Emerald continued. "I'm not planning on risking anyone else coming aboard and possibly ruining our chances. Crescent said he was coming for the gem and I would rather it turn up at Beacon, safe and sound no offense to you all."

Qrow took a deep breath and nodded, "Fine… Would you let us fly around you in case he tries an aerial entry?"

Emerald thought about it, putting a finger under her chin as she mulled it over in her head. When her finger distanced itself from her chin, a small smile appeared on her face.

"Of course, I don't see anything wrong with sticking around the blimp, so long as all of you stay around the ship."

With that, the team managed to climb into their helicopter, while they watched the blimp slowly ascend into the air with them. Qrow sat next to the open door, not taking his eyes off the blimp.

Yang was the first to raise a concern as she watched Qrow, "Uncle Qrow, what are you doing?"

"Seeing if Crescent makes a last-minute dash for the blimp now that everyone is taking off. Sometimes his magic is more right place, right time than actual magic."

Pyrrha nodded along with the statement, her mind thinking back to their first meeting, "He had mentioned something like that. Anything can be a distraction."

"That's a fact of the trade for magicians, once you look where you're "supposed" to, the trick has already been sprung." Qrow continued. "Trust me, you fight Crescent for a while and you pick up a few of his tricks.

The team watched the blimp like Qrow had been doing, only for them to find nothing out of the ordinary. The blimp took off as planned and with it came at least three of the VPD helicopters. The girls, being in the front of the formation kept a look at the other copters, ensuring that Crescent didn't try to hide by one.

That was until they heard the audible gasp of their leader and the clicking of seatbelts.

Most of the team immediately turned to see Qrow with his arm around Pyrrha's waist, holding her as close as he could. Before any of them could react, Qrow threw himself and by extension, Pyrrha out of the helicopter.

Pyrrha screamed at Qrow, "Are you crazy?!"

She was answered by a familiar smirk, one that she could place no matter the face. Upon realizing who her "captor" was, she rolled her eyes and let him hold onto her.

As they passed through a cloud, Crescent got rid of his disguise and let it fall, his paraglider immediately unfolding from his cape, giving their fall a more elegant glide. In no time, the blimp was visible from their fall, and it was more apparent to Pyrrha how Crescent planned to get inside. On top of the blimp, she could see a small hatch that could be used to enter the blimp.

Both of them landed on the blimp, Crescent's grappling gun being fired onto the hatch, latching onto the door, and acting as an anchor when they passed the hatch by the speed of the wind pushing them. The hatch door opened with this action, making her doubt Crescent's plan immediately. Thankfully, the grapple gun held strong, the wire keeping the door open for them as both him and Pyrrha made their way into the hatch.

As Crescent closed the hatch, Pyrrha turned to ask him something, his hand flew, catching her mouth. He pinned her to a wall and quickly raised what seemed to be a blanket over them. That's when she heard the footsteps of people coming.

She could hear one of the men ask another, "You hear that?"

The other man answered shortly, "Yeah, it sounded like someone opened the hatch. But that would be crazy, there's nothing out there."

One of them used a flashlight to look at the ladder leading up to the outside, finding nothing unusual. "Huh, I guess we're being paranoid. There's nothing around here, and surely we would have seen something having been so close to the ladder."

The duo left the hatch room and continued back to their tasks, leaving Pyrrha and Crescent alone once more. Only once they were sure of their solitude, did Crescent's hand come back down. He seemed different now, more determined.

"Okay Pyrrha quick brief, now that we're on board we have to make no sound or even leave a clue that we were here. The greatest magic you could ever pull out of a hat is the perfect entrance or exit. If you can do both, then you'll leave everyone amazed."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow as she took account of Crescent, his attire clearly his, but still wearing the Qrow mask as his head was still of the police veteran.

"Is that why you're so good at this part of the job?"

Crescent flashed her a smug smile, clearly joking around with her, "Glad you noticed. I put in so much work into my shows for you girls."

His face then immediately went serious again, "But real talk, we just need to find out where the Fall Maiden is and steal it. Fortunately for you, there's good news and bad news."

Pyrrha's eyebrow remained raised as she waited for Crescent to finish the rest of the info dump he was giving her.

"Bad news, if my information was right, then the gem should be at the front of the blimp, while we're at the back. Good news? You have a change of clothes."

He reached behind him and pulled out a small package, it was a white suit wrapped with plastic. Seeing the diner details she could notice red was an accent color in those which Crescent would be sporting yellow."

"You made a suit for me? Aren't you afraidI'll steal it and manage to work out your secrets?"

Crescent nearly doubled over in laughter, his smile being hidden by the plastic-wrapped package.

"It's a tuxedo-like mine, that's it. Don't go thinking you're my partner in this. We can talk about that when the job is done, however."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, exhaling loudly enough for him to hear it, "Forgive me if I don't want to start stealing gems in the night with you."

Crescent didn't seem phased, getting extremely close to the officer and raising her chin up so their eyes can meet, "Maybe I don't want you stealing gems with me. Maybe I want to keep a certain gem in my jewelry box."

Pyrrha's eyes widened, slowly taking in the information, until she felt a cloth wrap around her. It soon enveloped her in a cozy prison, that she was let out of quickly. When her world wasn't just white cloth, she immediately looked at her surroundings, noting emerald green eyes that she was staring into.

He had copied her appearance down to a tee.

Under her watch, Crescent started to put his long red hair into a ponytail. Drawing her eyes back to herself, she was wearing the suit that Crescent had shown her, complete with the red accents.

"All that to distract me?"

Crescent smirked, her own face staring back smugly at her. "What would you have said if I was serious?"

"No."

"There you go Pyrrha then."

Pyrrha looked outside of the room to see nothing but scaffolding like bridges and sometimes a guard here and there.

Crescent on the other hand, stepped forward without fear and only a cocky smile in hand. "Pyrrha, I'm going to sound the alarm, make it more like a game of ours. This time you're on my team. Remember this one rule: Never forget your poker face. No matter what happens, never show anything but arrogance. If you believe your own lie so well, others will follow suit."

Suddenly, everything seemed to click in her head about their past encounters. All the times that Crescent had smirked or showed that smug smirk of his. She couldn't remember a time where he never had it.

"Anytime anyone sees you, make your way out of sight, and lose them. If we do this right, they'll be freaked out. Even though this is a blimp, there's still a vent system here. Feel free to use it."

With that, Crescent went his separate way, leaving Pyrrha to move on ahead by herself. While the objective was simple, it became much harder when she realized how much security there was in the aircraft.

Managing to make it a few feet, Pyrrha heard someone coming and quickly dove behind a small crate. Keeping herself hidden, she watched as the pair was getting closer and closer to her. Ideas ran through her head, none of them getting her out of the situation without blowing her cover. That was until one thought came up.

"_I'm supposed to be Crescent right? Why not act like him?"_

Pyrrha stood up to her full length and smiled widely, the action seeming counterproductive to what she wanted.

_Crescent never makes any sense anyway, so I have to do the same!"_

She stepped out from cover and presented herself to the pair that was coming.

"How would you two like to see a magic trick?"

Two sets of eyes widened as far as they could go, Both of them reached for their guns until Pyrrha employed a tactic that Crescent had against Ruby. She threw her cape over both of them, obstructing their vision. Without missing a beat, she moved them both around and bumped them into one another before pulling the cape back, sending them both crashing into several boxes.

Quickly attaching her cape back onto herself she looked at her handiwork, both of the guards knocked out,' _That counts right?'_

Before she could leave them, Pyrrha noticed one of the headsets that happened to fly off one of their heads and put it on herself. Not wasting any time, Pyrrha made her way heading towards the front once more.

Much like Crescent had mentioned there were guards all over the place. In her head, the same thought kept appearing. _What would Crescent do?_

With the first set, she sped past them, raising their concern and investigating, but leaving before she could be spotted. If Crescent or Qrow or whoever gave her the advice was right, then having them search a dead-end would only occupy their time needlessly. And anyone not actually finding her was a step in the right direction.

As she advanced, she could sometimes see the actual Crescent slip past the same guards she had to hide from. Sometimes it was as simple as walking up to someone, tapping their shoulder to make them turn, and moving forward.

Other actions included tapping a door or metal object loudly to have someone check the sound, and just slip by like he was taking a stroll in the park. A bright white tuxedo kept slipping through the ins and outs of the guards easily.

_How does this man make it all look easy?_

As she continued, there was a card with Crescent's arcs on it that caught her eye. Moving silently towards it, she managed to read the words on the card, the words giving her a mental image of the magician's smug grin.

**Remember to use the vents! - Love, Crescent.**

Pyrrha groaned as she crumpled up the card, moving the apparently already unbolted grate that covered the vent. She started to crawl through the vents, giving her an easier time moving as she grumbled to herself.

"I swear I want to choke that man out, the only thing stopping me is the fact that he would probably have it be some sort of illusion."

'_What about murdering people is bad?' _her mind supplied.

She decided to ignore that tidbit while she could see the end of the vent, leading her to the front of the blimp, where she could see Emerald standing, watching the clouds go by. That's when it happened.

Crescent walked into the room like he owned the place, tossing his hat out to catch everyone's attention. Emerald and her team looked at the hat, then back to its owner when it returned, Crescent leaning on the display case in the middle of the room.

"Crescent!" roared Emerald. "How did you manage to get on board? We searched everyone."

Crescent simply walked around the case, his hands gliding over the case as he spoke, much in the same smug tone he would with the Vale team.

"Now, now, a magician can't be sharing all his secrets, wouldn't you agree?"

Crescent's smirk remained plastered on his face, even with the whole room of security detail pointing guns at him. His only reaction was to place his hands up, showing them empty.

Emerald stared at him, a small smile coming across her face, "I knew I was right. You're from that Vale team. The leader of them, Pyrrha right? I knew you were in on this. After all, you can't capture a thief the whole team is chasing if he's under your nose right?"

Crescent applauded her, "Wow, and I thought I could get some air on my jumps. Haven't you heard? I'm a master of disguise, Ms. Nikos' face was convenient for sure, but no I'm not her."

With a slight wink he continued, "After all, if I can convince you I am Ms. Nikos, then that leaves just one question, who am I?"

Emerald snarled as she watched the magician basically laugh at her, "Everyone get him, he won't be laughing when he gets captured."

Crescent raised an eyebrow and smiled as everyone came close, everyone's visual being completely taken by the smokescreen that consumed them all. Emerald, alongside the other members of her team, scrambled to try and find him, pushing and bumping into each other as they went looking.

Crescent's voice could be heard throughout the main room of the blimp, his words slathered with faux concern and actual smugness, "Now now, Ms. Sustrai, eagerness will only get you so far. Next time you want to try to capture the Phantom Thief, maybe bring someone with experience. Such a shame you refused to let those with experience onboard. Thank you for that by the way."

Emerald activated the vents system, airing out the room and revealing the missing magician and an empty case. She quickly pointed at the door of the room and ushered everyone out. "After him! He has the Fall Maiden! We can't let him escape with it!"

Once everyone was moved out, Emerald smiled muttering to herself, "That stupid thief, you managed to steal the Fall Maiden as you said. Now the only thing we need is to make sure we finish this job." She pulled out a handgun from her belt and stormed out into the rest of the ship, her hand touching the headset she had everyone wear.

"Anyone find that creep?" Emerald asked over the headset.

"Yeah, in the visitor's section, I see a red-haired woman calmly sipping tea with a group of people."

Unfortunately, another member of the security team spoke up, "I see a red-haired woman too! Crescent is running towards the hatch room!"

To make matters even worse, another member chimed in, "There's a white glider already leaving the blimp's airspace! The Vale Police are separating to capture Crescent."

Emerald thought to herself, "_Three Crescents? He's either got decoys or he has a team… But which one is it? Ignoring the one already outside, there's only two left!"_

Emerald went to the visitor's section and glanced at the people around, none of them nervous. A few even shook her hand and thanked her for her service in protecting the Fall Maiden. Nothing but suits and cocktail dresses filled her view, the only thing coming into focus was the head of red hair. As she got closer, she recognized the woman, Octavia Ember, someone she remembered seeing coming onboard. The pop star essentially snuck in, coming in early enough to avoid any detection from anyone.

That's when she heard a commotion from her headset as her team seemed to be struggling, "She went left! She can't be allowed to leave! Ms. Sustrai, we got Crescent trapped in the hatch room! Crescent won't be able to leave!"

"_Checkmate Crescent." _She thought to herself.

Taking her leave of the visitor's section, she hurried to the hatch room where sure enough, all of her team had Crescent pinned against the ladder. She looked at the ladder, ensuring that there weren't any sort of tricks to it. Following the same vein of precautions, she looked up at the door that would lead anyone outside. A wicked smile came across her face as she saw it closed, leaving the poor Magician trapped with her.

"Well, well, well Crescent, it seems like you had everything planned out. Too bad that your exit wasn't as wondrous as everyone assumed. The famed magician caught." Emerald explained.

Crescent merely shrugged, "Hey, everyone has off days right? It's not like we have an extra us to make the job easy huh?"

Emerald's eyes seemed to light up, "So that Crescent that flew outside of the blimp? That wasn't your assistant Mr. Magician?"

Despite having several guns pointed at him, he laughed, "If you're willing to work with me, I'll consider it, little gem."

Emerald's smile dropped immediately, "I wouldn't be caught dead working with you."

"But you will steal gems for profit?"

She scowled, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Crescent pulled out a gem, golden in color with a small swirl of red inside. "So after today, I won't see this anywhere but at Beacon?"

"Of course, I finish-" Emerald responded.

"Even on the black market?" Crescent continued.

"What are you even implying?!" she almost screamed.

Crescent wore his smirk proudly on his face, "I have seen all your contracts somehow arrive at their destination yet also being sold under the table."

He attempted to walk closer to Emerald, only for her team to stop him. All the guns around him clicked, a not so silent threat of their guns no longer having the safety on.

"Oof, tough crowd. Seeing how my job here is done, I must bid you adieu."

Emerald shook her head, "You're not going anywhere Crescent!"

Crescent chuckled as his hands came into clear view, "You may say that, but the wind is so fickle you know?"

With a snap of his fingers, the hatch of the blimp flew open, causing everyone to flinch at the sudden intake of wind. Suddenly it closed, leaving the hatch room void of the one magician. Only a card stood in his place.

Emerald picked it up and her eyes widened as she read it.

**Good luck with finishing your job. Might want to make sure your pack has the real gem, so you can't show up to Beacon with the fake one like you did at Shade.**

Her hand immediately flew towards her side pack on her hips, her hand digging into it to find a white gem, complete with a small drawing of Crescent sticking his tongue out at her**.**

Emerald snarled, "Damn that man.."

Meanwhile, the Vale team was right next to the skyward bound Crescent after he had made his way out of the blimp. Surprisingly, Crescent got close to the helicopter, actually grabbing onto it as the glider disassembled back into a cape.

Yang was the one to pull "Crescent" into the helicopter, only to find their leader's face staring at them.

"Pyrrha?!" squealed Ruby.

Yang pinched her cheeks and pulled hard.

"Ouch! Yang! Why?" complained Pyrrha.

Yang's eyes widened as she realized her face wasn't a mask. "Sorry, thought you were Crescent disguised as you."

"It's good to check, but next time don't pull so hard please," Pyrrha mentioned as her hand rubbed her cheek, trying to get some feeling back into it.

"What happened? Crescent kidnapped you and dressed you like him?" asked Blake.

"Kinda, I saw him steal the Fall Maiden from the Sustrai team."

Pyrrha nearly jumped as the whole team shouted, "**WHAT?!"**

Weiss looked back at the blimp, just in time to see another glider flying away from the Blimp. "Look there he is! Let's get him and retrieve the Fall Maiden!"

Pyrrha shook her head, opening the suit and digging into the inside pockets. Pulling out two gems, both of them golden with a reddish swirl inside.

"The Fall Maiden? There's two of them!" exclaimed Blake.

"Crescent gave me what he claims is the fake one Emerald would have given Beacon and the actual one."

Weiss scoffed, quickly taking them both off her hands, "I'll be the judge of that." In her own toolbelt, she took out a jeweler's kit and raised the gem, staring into it. She noticed that one of them had a piece of tape with a big "X" marked on it.

Weiss rolled her eyes and handed it back after taking her own look. "That's a fake."

Then turning the other gem over, she noticed the same tape with an "O" in the tape. Upon further inspection, she couldn't believe that thief.

"He gave us the real Maiden…" she muttered.

Blake raised an eyebrow, "You mean the actual Fall Maiden? Why? He gains nothing from leaving it with us."

Pyrrha shook her head, "He gets his game… He doesn't trust Sustrai to take it to Beacon…"

That night, Pyrrha and the team had to ensure what seemed like countless meetings pertaining to the gem's protection. No one believed that Crescent would help the police. Even though Pyrrha swore multiple times about the events of the night, she was constantly pestered about all the security measures that the Sustrai team had. Worst of it all was the new Head of Security, Cinder Fall.

Finally making it out, she took out the second of Crescent's card that had been stashed in her suit. No one had seen the card, she was thankful for that. It was because of that card that she found herself on the roof of Beacon University, waiting for eight o'clock.

Almost like clockwork, he showed up. She could feel someone on the roof with her and sure enough, as she turned around she saw him.

He spoke softly, his smirk appearing on his face once more, "Well Hello there, Ms. Nikos. What a coincidence, running into you."

As Pyrrha turned to look at the man, he held his hat forward as he bowed for her. His voice still carried his smarminess. "As promised, I will take the Fall Maiden from you girls, but I expect-"

Pyrrha cut him off, "Why are you even trying to steal these gems? You don't keep any of them! Why bother to steal them?"

Crescent stood back up and turned his back to her, his confidence unwavering, "Who can tell the motivation of a Phantom Thief Ms. Nikos?"

"You're looking for a specific one aren't you?"

Crescent didn't respond.

"Please, tell me what you need and I'll try to help you get what you need to stop this seemingly endless game of cat and mouse."

"As I told you before Ms. Nikos, I may be persuaded to stop my thefts, if a certain gem comes with me."

Pyrrha groaned aloud, "I told you I wasn't interested!"

Crescent stood there with his natural smirk. With a simple touch of a button, his cape became a glider once more. "When did I say it was you who was the gem?"

Pyrrha watched with embarrassment as the thief once more got away. This time, without any tricks.

* * *

Thank you for once again tuning back in to read this! I'm so happy I can write this crazy story out for you guys. Go ahead and leave a review, it would be much appreciated!


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